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Source: ONE News -
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Just two weeks after the Napier siege began; Tasers will soon be
available to all police across the country.
The government announced it will pump $10 million into rolling out
the stun guns in next week's budget, Police Minister Judith Collins
said.
"For anybody who thought that we didn't need to have Tasers rolled out in the country, Len Snee's untimely death certainly would've focussed people's minds on the amount of violence that police have to confront every day," says Collins.
"At a time when officers are increasingly confronted with volatile situations fuelled by methamphetamine, it is the government's responsibility to ensure police have the equipment to keep themselves and the public safe."
But that announcement came just a day after there was international condemnation of New Zealand's use of the Taser.
After a year-long trial, police decided to start using the 50,000 volt stun-gun last August.
But the roll out was sped up with the new funding set aside in the upcoming budget.
That extra funding will bring the total number of Tasers available to 720 and across the country 3500 officers will be trained to use them.
The decision though came less than 48 hours after the UN's Committee against Torture released a report, expressing deep concern about New Zealand's adoption of Tasers, calling them an instrument of torture.
Long time opponents of the Tasers say the government is using the Napier tragedy to justify torture.
Michael Bott, from the Council of Civil Liberties, is outraged at the decision.
"Minister Collins has given the bird to the UN, it's a disgrace," says Bott.
"It's a whole host of things that could actually prevent the Napier siege& they're using one case as an excuse to roll these things out. And it's not good enough."
But Collins made it clear that frontline police will use the Tasers on a case-by-case basis and says "it's a significantly better option in my opinion, than arming the police."
At the end of the day though, the sight of officers armed with Tasers will be less of a shock than the tragic events which unfolded two weeks ago.
