Western Australian police (slightly) reduce taser overuse, misuse and abuse

File under: Being Slightly Less Stupid
Cross-file under: Being A Bit Less Evil
Cross-file under: Why did it take you so long to figure it out?
Cross-file under: You still have a BIG problem, Sunshine

ABC News (Australia)

New figures reveal taser usage by Western Australian police has plummeted since changes to the force's policy on their use. In December last year the Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan changed the taser use policy to stipulate that officers only use the weapons to prevent serious injury. The change was introduced as an interim measure and will mean officers have to believe they are at risk of serious injury before using a taser. ... [LINK]

In the two months to December, tasers were drawn a total of 148 times by police. But in the two months since the new policy was implemented, the weapons have been drawn just 82 times. There has also been a drop in how often police have actually discharged the tasers, from 62 in the lead up to December, to just 21 in the two months to the 31st of January.

BS propaganda is marked in BS-Brown

See also [LINK]

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Now, before you break-out the bubbly, engage brain and run the numbers...

"...actually discharged the tasers....to just 21 in the two months..."

Western Australia. That's just ONE Australian state with only about 10% of the population of Australia.

21 actual taser discharges in two months. That's a taser deployment rate, the newly-reduced rate, of about 126 times per year. These are actual discharges.

One state. About 126 taser discharges per year. This is the newly-reduced rate.

THINK. LOOK AT THE NUMBER. UNDERSTAND THE NUMBER.

Does anyone still think that "tasers are an alternative to firearms"?

Would the Western Australian police (one state) normally be shooting-to-kill about 126 citizens per year with their firearms?

If that same rate was applied across Australia, the police would be shooting-to-kill 1260 citizens per year.

They'd be the biggest band of murderers in Australian history, killings many hundreds per year.

THINK.

TASERS ARE NOT AN ALTERNATIVE TO FIREARMS.

They're used about ONE HUNDRED TIMES as often.

Considering that tasers can randomly KILL, this topic is still an ethical quagmire.