In Chapter 4, we provided a summary of the training provided to police for accreditation to use a Taser and the related subjects taught to student police at the NSW Police Academy relevant to ensuring that Tasers are used appropriately.
To consider the question about whether police training is adequate, we examined a range of training materials including:
• Taser accreditation and reaccreditation training – including lesson plans, multimedia presentation slides, written scenarios for scenario-based training, Taser user certification tests and practical skills assessment sheets.
• Police recruit training – including subject outlines, study guides and workbooks, practice manuals and reading lists.
• Annual mandatory training – including scenario-based training, PowerPoint presentation slides, and instructions for discharge of live Taser cartridges.
• Mental Health Intervention Training – including the agenda and selected presentation slides.
We also attended the eight hour Taser accreditation training over two days – to observe both the theoretical and practical components of the training – and the Taser reaccreditation training to observe the presentation as well as parts of the scenario-based training.
Our review covered:
• whether the recommendations made in our 2008 report about the risks and limitations of using Tasers had been addressed
• the practical component to develop knowledge and skills required to effectively use a Taser
• the theoretical component – including the content dealing with the criteria for use of a Taser and the accountability measures for monitoring compliance.
Our finding is that the practical and theoretical training the NSWPF provides to police on the use of Tasers is of a generally high standard. Importantly, the Taser SOPs require police to complete annual reaccreditation training and allow for officers to be decertified and retrained after any incidents of hazardous use. We support the continuation of these requirements. We also found that police training now includes suitable content and information about many of the issues we identified in our first report about the risks and limitations of Tasers.
The training issues that we believe require further attention – to ensure that NSWPF officers are properly equipped to use Tasers in an effective and appropriate manner – are outlined below.
7.17.1 Review of training after amendments to the Taser SOPs
To ensure that police are aware of the amendments to the Taser SOPs introduced in version 1.18 and further amendments recommended in this report, we recommend that the NSWPF review and update the Taser training modules to incorporate amendments to the criteria for use – including prohibitions against unreasonable use for compliance.
7.17.2 Targeting the Taser on sensitive body parts
The NSWPF Taser training has incorporated Taser International’s advice on preferred target areas and the need to avoid sensitive areas of the body. Taser SOPs version 1.18 also specifically instructs Taser users to avoid targeting the chest area, however this is yet to be incorporated in the Taser training material. Taser International have also advised that Taser users should avoid targeting known pre-existing injury areas – this has yet to be incorporated into the Taser SOPs and training.
7.17.3 Use of scenarios in practical component
During our attendance at practical training sessions for both Taser user accreditation and reaccreditation, we observed that each officer was involved in role playing in one reality-based scenario only.
Scenario-based training is important to help officers to integrate and apply their knowledge, develop their skills to continually assess all aspects of a situation as it unfolds, and choose the most appropriate alternative to deal with a dynamic situation. An interim evaluation of the Victoria Police’s pilot project using Tasers shows that the majority of police officers undertaking Taser training considered practical and scenario training to be the most useful training session.71 In our view, the practical skills component of the NSWPF Taser training could be improved by including
more scenario-based training for each officer.
We recommend that the training should include reality-based scenarios in which:
• Vulnerable people are involved – to reinforce the importance of communication and other de-escalation techniques in resolving an incident.
• Taser use is shown to be an inappropriate use of force – including situations in which a person is acting in a non-threatening, compliant or passively noncompliant manner.
• The appropriate actions to resolve the incident are not clear-cut – to further develop the officers’ risk assessment and decision-making abilities.
During the practical Taser user accreditation training, officers are instructed to communicate with the person at all stages of an incident. They are also required to demonstrate their communication skills during their practical skills assessment.However, we observed that this was restricted to requiring officers to identify themselves as officers, use verbal commands, and issue a verbal warning about Taser use. To emphasise the importance of effective communication in resolving incidents, we recommend that officers be assessed on their effective use of de- escalation techniques during scenario-based training.
7.17.4 Mental health training
Our detailed review of the 556 incidents shows that 143 of those incidents (25.7%) were classified by the NSWPF as incidents relating to the Mental Health Act 2007, and/or involving attempted suicide or self-harm.72 In addition, 140 of
the 620 people (22.6%) who were subjected to Taser use received psychiatric assessment and/or treatment after the incident. Given the high proportion of people suffering from mental health issues in Taser incidents, we consider that the NSWPF should ensure that all general duties police officers receive mental health training as a matter of priority. We are pleased that the NSWPF recognises the importance of mental health training and have established the Mental Health Intervention Team (MHIT) on a permanent basis. However, we are concerned that providing mental health training to only 10% of police officers by 2015 means that the majority of officers would not benefit from the training in the foreseeable future. We believe that the NSWPF should give urgent priority to delivering the one day mental health training course for general duties police officers referred to in Chapter 4.
Only four of the 19 officers in the two focus groups we conducted with NSWPF general duties officers had completed MHIT training. In one focus group, the two officers who had completed the MHIT training found it extremely useful. One officer said that it was the best course he had ever completed because it gave him an understanding of ‘their thought processes. Give them a lot more empathy and understanding of what they’ve been through’.73
One officer confirmed that the MHIT training does cover use of force options, including the use of Tasers. When asked how the MHIT training deals with Taser use, one focus group participant said:
Understand where this person’s coming from and, um, just try to talk to them, obviously. But if you have to use it [i.e. the Taser], you know, a mentally ill person can still kill you, or themself or someone else.74
In terms of how the knowledge that a person is experiencing mental health issues affects an officer’s approach to the situation, one focus group participant stated:
Oh, it’s – it’s so many things they talked about and so many different ways it would take you half a day to explain it. But just – just one example is, they’re apprehensive of police, and if you’re telling them you’re taking them somewhere don’t put them in a police car if you can avoid it. It’s – it’s so many little things like that.75
The other participants in this focus group expressed an interest in completing the MHIT training.
In a separate focus group of general duties officers, the two officers who had completed the MHIT course said they found the training interesting, with one of them stating: ‘some of the things they – they taught were interesting, but I wouldn’t say I use it in everyday policing. It’s just, um, interesting’.76
The two officers did not consider that the MHIT training had changed their approach in dealing with people who might be suffering from mental health issues. One officer said:
… interesting why they said, okay, of all the professions, you’ve got the doctors, the nurses, psychiatrists, and what’s – out of all the professions, what do you think is the number one profession that can pick a mental – mentally ill person? And it’s the police. So out of 90 – out
of – if a police officer says someone’s mad, they’re 96 per cent of the time right, okay? No other profession can get that good. And it was just sort of information like that. Kept providing information and – so it was just a – an interesting sort of day. I think most police here after a couple of years receive that.77
7.17.5 Supplementing Taser SOPs and training with best practice guidelines
In our 2008 report, we made a number of recommendations that the Taser SOPs be amended to include content on key issues that police needed to be well informed about to manage the risks of Taser use and to use Tasers effectively. We are pleased that the NSWPF have implemented the majority of those recommendations and have recently made further amendments to the Taser SOPs after our consultations with them during this review.
We recognise that there are limits to the amount of information that can be included in the Taser SOPs and in Taser accreditation training. We therefore recommend that the TEC consider developing best practice guidelines to supplement the Taser SOPs and training. These guidelines could be distributed to police attending Taser training as an additional resource and/or be made available on the NSWPF intranet. We envisage that the guidelines would be aimed at providing further emphasis, guidance and advice on a range of key issues such as:
• the criteria for use – including scenarios when Tasers should not be used
• use of Tasers when a person is fleeing police or is in handcuffs
• use of Tasers to obtain compliance with directions including move-on directions
• multiple use – tips for avoiding unnecessary cycles and discharges such as securing a subject at the earliest opportunity, including while the Taser is cycling
• responding to subjects exhibiting behaviours associated with excited delirium
• using communication skills to de-escalate violent confrontation
• responding to high risk incidents.
Recommendations
17. That the NSWPF update Taser training to emphasise amendments to the Taser SOPs
released in version 1.18 and amendments made as a result of recommendations in this
report.
18. That the NSWPF include reality-based scenarios in Taser accreditation training and
reaccreditation training that deal with:
•
vulnerable people – to reinforce the importance of communication, negotiation and
other de-escalation techniques
•
situations in which Taser use is not an appropriate use of force – including
circumstances where a person is acting in a non-threatening, compliant or passively
noncompliant manner
•
situations in which the appropriate actions to resolve the incident are not clear-cut – to
further develop the officers’ risk assessment and decision-making abilities.
19. That the NSWPF amend the Taser SOPs and training to include instructions to avoid
targeting known pre-existing injury areas.
20. That the NSWPF gives urgent priority to delivering a one day mental health training
program to all general duties police officers as soon as possible.
21. That the NSWPF develop best practice guidelines for the use of Tasers to supplement the
Taser SOPs and training.
Endnotes
1. NSW Police Force, Standard Operating Procedures for use of Electronic Control (TASER) Devices by the NSW Police Force, version 1.16, 1 July 2010, section 4, p. 14.
2. NSW Ombudsman, The Use of Taser Weapons by New South Wales Police Force, November 2008, p. 68 (Recommendation 1).
3. Email from Detective Inspector Gregory Butler, Staff Officer, Major Events and Incidents Group, NSW Police Force to Senior Sergeant Wayne Pernice, Coordinator, Appeals and International Law, Prosecutions Command, NSW Police Force, 19 November 2009.
4. ibid.
5. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘NSW Police Force draft response’.
6. Minutes of meeting of the Taser Executive Committee, NSW Police Force, 27 August 2010, p. 10.
7. NSW Police Force, Standard Operating Procedures for use of Electronic Control (TASER) Devices by the NSW Police Force, version 1.18, (approved for release July 2012), section 5.2, p. 16.
8. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘NSW Police Force draft response’.
9. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘Additional information requested by the NSW Ombudsman’, p. 2.
10. NSW Police Force, NSW Police Force Handbook, 30 May 2012, p. 532. 11. NSWPF Tactical Options Model (emphasis in original).
12. We have developed and use the term ‘serious actual bodily harm’ to specify the level of physical threat that would be proportionate to the discharge of a Taser (over other less invasive and less painful tactical options available) to be consistent with the obligations under LEPRA that use of force must be reasonable in the circumstances.
13. Email from Assistant Commissioner Alan Clarke, NSW Police Force to Huette Lam, Senior Project Officer (Research), NSW Ombudsman, 10 May 2011.
14. NSW Police Force, X26 Taser Review Mandatory 2011–2012: TASER® X26® Electronic Control Device, version 14.2/17, NSWPF—Version 2.0, 2011/2012, p. 42.
15. NSW Police Force, Taser Tips & Tricks, May 2011, p. 1, (emphasis in original).
16. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘NSW Police Force draft response’, p. 12.
17. NSW Police Force, Standard Operating Procedures for use of Electronic Control (TASER) Devices by the NSW Police Force, version 1.16, 1 July 2010, section 5.5.3, p. 15.
18. NSW Police Force, Standard Operating Procedures for use of Electronic Control (TASER) Devices by the NSW Police Force, version 1.18, (approved for release July 2012), section 6.4.3, p. 17.
19. NSW Police Force, X26 Taser Review Mandatory 2011–2012: TASER® X26® Electronic Control Device, version 14.2/17, NSWPF—Version 2.0, 2011/2012, p. 60.
20. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘Additional information requested by the NSW Ombudsman’, p. 4.
21. ibid, p. 4.
22. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘NSW Police Force draft response’, pp. 13–14.
23. This count excludes cases where our assessment found a breach of parts of the Taser SOPs other than section 4, ‘Criteria for use’ – for example, instructions in section 6 relating to calling ambulances.
24. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘NSW Police Force draft response’, p. 2.
25. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘Additional information requested by the NSW Ombudsman’, p. 1.
26. ibid, p. 5.
27. NSW Ombudsman, Annual Report 2009–2010, 2010, p. 79.
28. Michael Daley, Minister for Police and Minister for Finance media release, ‘Police Operating Procedures for the use of Tasers to be tightened’, 20 October 2010.
29. NSW Police Force, Standard Operating Procedures for use of Electronic Control (TASER) Devices by the NSW Police Force, version 1.18, (approved for release July 2012), sections 6.10.1-6.10.2, p. 18.
30. NSW Police Force, User Certification Course TASER® X26® Electronic Control Device, version 14.2/15 (NSWPF – Version 6.1), 2009/2010; NSW Police Force, Taser Information Package 2009.
31. NSW Police Force, Taser Tips & Tricks, May 2011, p. 1 (emphasis in original). 32. ibid, p. 1, (emphasis in original).
33. NSW Police Force, User Certification Course—TASER® X26® Electronic Control Device, version 14.2–17 (NSWPF version 6.2), 2011; NSW Police Force, X26 Taser Review Mandatory 2011–2011: TASER® X26® Electronic Control Device, version 14.2/17, NSWPF—Version 2.0, 2011/2012. 34. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012—
enclosure entitled ‘NSW Police Force draft response’, p. 18. 35. ibid, p. 19.
36. ibid, p. 11.
37. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘Additional information requested by the NSW Ombudsman’, p. 4.
38. Letter from Assistant Commissioner Alan Clarke, Commander, Major Events and Incidents Group, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 26 March 2012, p. 2.
39. ibid, p. 2.
40. Walsh, P., Review of Police Use of Tasers, December 2011 (unpublished).
41. NSW Police Force, Standard Operating Procedures for use of Electronic Control (TASER) Devices by the NSW Police Force, version 1.18, June 2012 (approved for release July 2012), section 3.12, p. 15. This emphasis is also contained in NSW Police Force, Standard Operating Procedures for use of Electronic Control (TASER) Devices by the NSW Police Force, version 1.17, 4 December 2010, section 3.12, p. 14. 42. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012—
enclosure entitled ‘NSW Police Force draft response’, p. 7.
43. Participant’s comments, focus group 1 with NSW Police Force general duties officers, September 2011.
44. ‘Investigation clears trooper in Pinellas Park Taser incident that leaves woman in coma’, 10 News, 16 February 2012, <www.wtsp.com/news> accessed 1 August 2012; Stanley, K. and Pittman, C., ‘Experts say trooper’s use of Taser on woman raises questions’, Tampa Bay Times, 18 February 2012, <www.tampabay.com> accessed 1 August 2012.
45. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘NSW Police Force draft response’, p. 18.
46. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘Additional information requested by the NSW Ombudsman’, p. 7.
47. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘NSW Police Force draft response’, p. 8.
48. Police Executive Research Forum is a USA national membership organisation of progressive police executives from the largest city, county and state law enforcement agencies.
49. Police Executive Research Forum, and United States Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2011 Electronic Control Weapons Guidelines, March 2011, p. 20.
50. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘NSW Police Force draft response’, p. 8.
51. Police Executive Research Forum, and United States Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2011 Electronic Control Weapons Guidelines, March 2011, p. 20.
52. Letter from Detective Superintendent Peter Thurtell, Local Area Commander, Mid North Coast Local Area Command, NSW Police Force to Michael Gleeson, Manager Police Division, NSW Ombudsman, 13 June 2011.
53. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘NSW Police Force draft response’.
54. Police Executive Research Forum, and United States Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2011 Electronic Control Weapons Guidelines, March 2011, p. 20.
55. NSW Police Force, Standard Operating Procedures for use of Electronic Control (TASER) Devices by the NSW Police Force, version 1.17, 4 December 2010, section 3.9, p. 14.
56. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012— enclosure entitled ‘NSW Police Force draft response’.
57. Letter from Assistant Commissioner Alan Clarke, Commander, Major Events and Incidents Group, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 26 March 2012.
58. Walsh, P., Review of Police Use of Tasers, December 2011 (unpublished). p. 1.
59. ‘WA Premier defends Minister over Taser’, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 October 2010 <news.smh.com.au> accessed 17 February 2012. 60. Letter from Acting Commissioner Nick Kaldas, NSW Police Force, to Bruce Barbour, Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman, 19 January 2012—