Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Police are rolling out $30 million of new much-longer-range tasers - without first answering legal questions about the use of body-worn cameras to go with them.
A briefing shows police warning Police Minister Ginny Andersen in late July they had just days to seal a deal on Taser 10s to roll out from December, without the usual cameras.
These use wireless body-worn cameras (BWC) unlike the in-built ones on current tasers.
Police had previously discussed with the minister using tasers without the cameras normally in place to prevent misuse.
"There will be differing views on whether police should be operating tasers without the camera technology," police told Andersen.
Their two external legal experts were "comfortable" with a rollout minus cameras, so long as body-worn cameras got looked at in time, they said.
"There also needs to be consideration of whether the current legislative framework would adequately support the use of BWC technology by police."
The ministerial briefing shows in 2022 police bought the entire global supply of the old, out-of-production Taser X2 and their inbuilt cameras as a stopgap, but these were now running out (the tasers rely on cartridges).
Early August was the deadline to order new ones, police said.
The Taser 10 was more effective at incapacitating people, they said.
It can fire 13 metres, versus the current Taser X2's 7.5m, and has 10 prongs.
"The police executive's decision to progress with procuring the Taser 10 product without BWCs is likely to generate interest across some communities and in media," the briefing said.
The footage from taser cams is stored by taser maker Axon in Australia.
Bringing in cameras needed "careful consideration". They have debated this since 2019.
