Harawira Urges Police to Study Canadian Taser Death

Friday 16 November 2007

Hone Harawira, Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau, has today urged the Commissioner of Police to give critical consideration to the death of a Polish immigrant being by taser gun at Vancouver airport at the hands of the Canadian Mounties.

“Anyone who has seen the video footage of his death would be shocked at the impact of such a lethal weapon” said Hone Harawira.

The Maori Party has been involved in a mediation with the NZ Police and the Human Rights Commission, in an attempt to stop such a lethal weapon from being introduced as part of standard front-line police weaponry.

“Our view is that tasers encourage a culture of violence in policing. Any weapon that a cop can easily reach for instead of thinking through how to handle a situation in a non-violent way, creates a choice. And with every new weapon, the number of violent options increases. They've now got a handful of weapons” said Mr Harawira.

“We know that the Commissioner is due to receive a consolidated report on taser use by mid–December, and is expected to make a decision early in 2008” said Harawira.

“In the interests of public safety, we hope that they will give special attention to the importance of the Vancouver case - and the many other taser deaths that have occurred throughout the USA."

ENDS

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