A taser pilot scheme among members of An Garda Síochána has begun.
Startlingly, gardai will be permitted to use the tasers on pregnant women and children, if they feel the need to do so.
Officers based at Store Street and Pearse Street Garda stations in Dublin, along with stations in Waterford, are to receive the devices on a trial basis, reports Breaking News.
The tasers are being rolled out in an effort to reduce the number of assaults on gardaí following a rise in such incidents in recent years.
A total of 128 uniformed gardaí have received specialised training in the use of the devices and will be required to log every instance in which they are deployed during policing duties, reports Breaking News.
This marks the first time frontline gardaí will be permitted to use tasers, as they had previously been limited to the Armed Support and Emergency Response units.
TheLiberal.ie won’t quit
Please support us with a small donation on PayPal!
Joe O’Brien, executive director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, told Newstalk that gardaí have traditionally enjoyed a strong relationship with the public due to their lack of weapons, reports Breaking News.
“What’s being proposed here, in a very rushed manner, I would say as well, is a fundamental shift really in the relationship between the Irish police force and the public. It’s been done in quite a rushed manner, without proper debate, without consultation, not really clear what the aimed-for purpose is, we’ve heard bits and pieces,” Mr O’Brien said, reports Breaking News.
Irish Council of Civil Liberties spokesperson Emily Williams said that the public needs more clarity on how and when tasers will be deployed.
“While we do welcome the safeguards that have been announced regarding the use of tasers, including mandatory recording to Fiosrú, the three-day training and the recording of usage for oversight purposes, we still don’t have clear parameters on when they will be used,” she said, reports Breaking News.
Ms Williams also warned that the use of tasers could have the opposite impact to what is intended.
“We’ve seen research which found that the use of tasers can actually increase violence against police, and may not be an effective deterrent to reduce violence, so what this means is that the use of tasers may not actually solve the problem which the guards seek to achieve,” she said, reports Breaking News.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
