More NSW police to be issued Taser guns
Posted
New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says expanding the use of Taser guns to general duties police is necessary to protect officers.
Two thousand supervisors will be trained to operate an additional 229 Tasers, which will be fitted with video cameras to record their use.
Currently in New South Wales, Tasers are only used by the riot squad and the tactical response unit.
Commissioner Scipione says an increase in violent attacks on officers has prompted the boost.
"You don't have to go too far to see the incidence of alcohol-fuelled violence on the streets of New South Wales," he said.
"I'm sick to death of going to visit police officers in hospital where they've been the victims.
"There's nothing like sitting across a table from a mother and father whose son has been the subject of a serious assault and about to have his eye removed because he was a police officer in a Sydney hotel."
