News Service from House Harris

NSW: Death of Tasered man was news to me - police commissioner

SYDNEY, Nov 19 AAP - NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says he was only made aware of the death of a person after use of a Taser when he read a report by the NSW Ombudsman.

NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour released a review on Wednesday raising concernsabout the training of police and their use of Tasers, referring to the death of a person 12 days after being shocked with the weapon.

Mr Scipione said he read a copy of the report on Tuesday.

"That incident has been identified to us only through the course of this particular review," he told reporters.

"That's why we've said we need more information."

Mr Scipione said the person involved had a history of severe medical issuesand the incident happened before Tasers were distributed to general dutiesofficers on October 1.

"I'm assuming that it happened well before we rolled out to general duties.It must have been a number of years ago," he said.

"If the police use the Taser and that person was released and dealt with and subsequently died, how or why would the police know?"

Mr Scipione said there was a training manual for Tasers and officers had toget an 80 per cent pass in a written exam before they were accredited to use the weapon.

"There are clear rules in there," he said.

In response to concerns that Tasers had been rolled out to general duties officers while the Ombudsman's report was in preparation, Mr Scipione said he had seen no good reason to delay.

"I had no idea of the timing of the report," he said.

The Ombudsman has called for a moratorium on the roll-out of Tasers to general duties officers until another independent review over the next two years has been completed.

Mr Scipione said no decision had been made on a further roll-out.

"I have always said that I would review the process after we assess and evaluate their use by mobile supervisors," he said.

General duties police had used Tasers on 70 occasions since they were issued them on October 1, Mr Scipione said.

Every Taser use was recorded by an inbuilt camera and was then downloaded and reviewed by Deputy Police Commissioner Dave Owens, he said.

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