Australia's second Taser death report

[creampie]

The Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) still has "ongoing concerns" despite praising the Queensland Police Service (QPS) for improving its use of Tasers after the death of a man in the state's north.

Antonio Galeano, 39, died after being tasered multiple times by police after he allegedly assaulted a woman at a unit at Brandon, south of Townsville, in June 2009.

A joint CMC-QPS review after the 2009 incident recommended more training for officers and changes to the guidelines.

In a follow-up report delivered to Queensland Parliament this morning, CMC chairman Martin Moynihan says police are to be commended for implementing 24 of the 27 recommendations.

Mr Moynihan says it is a significant accomplishment, requiring considerable time and resources.

The CMC has recommended medical assessments for anyone who has been tasered by police, as one of 21 new suggestions in today's report.

The CMC has called for mandatory medical check-ups whenever a Taser is deployed.

The follow-up report found the frequency of Taser use has decreased considerably, including a noticeable drop in Taser deployments against handcuffed people.

Mr Moynihan says the report affirms the CMC's view that Tasers are a useful tool for police, but a less serious use of force should always be the preferred response.

But the CMC says there are some areas of ongoing concern, such as the use of Tasers against medically vulnerable people, and the application of multiple and prolonged discharges.

It says Taser deployments since the introduction of the revised policy were generally more likely than before to involve a person suspected of having an underlying mental or physical health condition, despite the revised policy highlighting the possible risks of Taser use against people in potentially "at-risk" groups.

The CMC says it is also concerned that more than 20 per cent of Taser uses were targeted at Indigenous people.

CMC deputy director of research, Dr Rebecca Denning, says the police service has been diligent in implementing the recommendations but there are still areas of concern.

"Particularly around the increased use of Tasers against vulnerable groups and the proportion of multiple and prolonged Taser uses," she said.

"The CMC will conduct a further review using the current review as baseline data and this review will commence later this year."

Dr Denning says the report also calls for the police service to provide the CMC with a yearly review of Taser use.

"So that we can monitor more closely aspects on an annual basis related to mission creep, Taser usage, injuries and those sorts of things," she said


http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011 ... ion=justin