This course has an online component that MUST be completed prior to attending the practical portion of instruction with a TASER Master Instructor.  Attendees will need to log in to take the online portion of class before the in-classroom/practical portion takes place.  The online component must be completed a week prior to the in class portion. NO EXCEPTIONS will be made once online course has closed. Once registered with TASER, the student will receive an email confirmation with further instructions.

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“There’s a lot of things to consider in a nanosecond but, under stress, a police officer is going to revert to his training,” Hateley said.

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Unless in exceptional circumstances, police guidelines hold that Tasers shouldn’t be used against people who are elderly, handcuffed, pregnant, disabled or have a small body mass (including children). The same rules apply for people who are running away or driving.

“When exposed to a person that might be [in a] rage, alcohol, drug or mentally affected, pain tolerance doesn’t mean a lot to those people,” he said.

They also cannot be used for crowd control, on people wielding guns or against mental health patients “solely to make them comply”. (About a third of incidents where police have used Tasers in NSW have involved people with mental health conditions.)

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While 50,000 volts sounds severe, it’s the amperage – or force of an electric current – that’s deadly in an electric shock. The Tasers used by NSW Police have a current of about 2 milliamps, which is enough to administer severe pain and muscle contractions but not enough to kill.

Researchers have also investigated whether Tasers are implicated in deaths caused by “excited delirium”, an acute state of agitation and stress often experienced by people who have used hard drugs or have a psychiatric illness.

Police cannot use Tasers on someone at risk of significant secondary injuries, such as someone likely to fall from a height and injure their head. Tasers cannot be used to rouse an intoxicated person or on someone who is refusing to move on from an area and who isn’t threatening police.

Other researchers wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia that “the mechanical impact of the barbs, combined with the subsequent voltage released, represents a considerable hazard to eyes, genitalia and large blood vessels in the neck”.

“It’s the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. I’ve been OC [pepper] sprayed, I’ve been hit with all sorts of things, I’ve been shot, I’ve been stabbed and with Taser it’s just excruciating,” Hateley said.

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What to Bring: The dress is casual.  Bring your department issued TASER holster (if applicable).  Holsters will be available for those who need them.  Please bring your duty belt with NO firearms, ammunition, or weapons of any kind.

“Instead of a loud crackling sound, which is a normal sound of a Taser, you’ll hear a muffled sound and that means it’s a good deployment, that means the electricity is gone inside the subject’s body,” he said.

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“There has been plenty of occasions where people are completely off their head with drugs, alcohol ... and a Taser will incapacitate them because it attacks the skeletal muscles in the body,” Hateley said.

The NSW police guidelines for Taser use warn about the risks of positional asphyxia – where the position of someone’s body interferes with their ability to breathe – which is common among people experiencing delirium or mania.

Hateley, who is a former special operations tactical officer who advocated for Tasers to come to Australia, explains what happens when a person is Tasered.

The body’s muscles are controlled by electrical impulses, which is why an electric shock – such as one from a Taser – triggers muscle contractions and “stuns” a target. An electric shock can interrupt the muscle contractions of the heart’s ventricles and cause dangerous arrhythmia.

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“Police officers need an alternative to lethal force. You don’t want them shooting everyone, but you certainly don’t want them Tasering 95-year-old ladies either,” he said.

** MTU 8 Member Agencies: When enrolling officers from your department please include their email address. Their email address will be utilized for AXON to communicate with them regarding the online portion of the course.

The shock of a Taser is usually too low to drastically affect the heart. Research suggests Taser-induced ventricular fibrillation is possible, particularly for people with underlying heart problems, but the risk is extremely low.

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This course will certify attendees to instruct others on the use of TASER Electronic Control Devices. This is considered a 16-hour course for all attendees (8 hours online + 8 hours in class). AXON no longer differentiates between new certifications and re-certifications.

The Taser specialist said he used his own daughter as an example when he was training 45 special force police officers from Australia and New Zealand. “I prepared her mentally, I said ‘do not scream, there’s 45 special forces people in this room’ ... so she volunteered first. She didn’t make a sound,” he said.

While Hateley said it was “excruciating pain”, Tasering is often used on people in a heightened state of arousal who don’t feel the pain as intensely.

When used appropriately, Tasering is an alternative to lethal force to protect police officers, which Hateley said was crucial for their safety.

A review of the risk of Tasers by Australian emergency doctors noted that people who have a low body weight and are Tasered in the chest may have a higher risk of ventricular fibrillation.

Police are only supposed to fire a Taser to protect human life or protect themselves from violent confrontation, risk of bodily harm and dangerous animals.

Training is key. Hateley said a well-trained officer has to consider the risks a person faces when they will likely fall from being Tasered and the position of where the weapon is deployed, which is also outlined by the NSW Police Force.

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“It’s like going to a gym session,” he said. It creates a feeling of exhilaration as the body will be hit with 50,000 volts of electricity, 19 times a second for five seconds.

MTU 8 Member Agencies PLEASE NOTE: The registration deadline to be guaranteed a spot is December 18, 2020.  There may be spots available after this date, but they will not be guaranteed as AXON will open up the courses to those from outside MTU 8 after this date. Registration will close on January 12, 2021. No exceptions will be made.

When deployed, the handheld device releases copper wires with two darts which has “basically a fishhook” on the end. “When it hits a person wearing clothes, it’ll hook into their clothing or hook into their skin and it’s designed to only go a certain depth,” Hateley said.

Barbs that pierce someone’s face, eyes, neck, bones, groin or breast must be removed by paramedics or doctors, and an ambulance has to be called every time someone is Tasered.

The use of Tasering by police has been brought under scrutiny after the death of Clare Nowland, 95, a week after she was Tasered by a police officer at a care home in Cooma.

Some research has suggested subjecting someone who is experiencing excited delirium to an immense amount of pain via a Taser can worsen the syndrome and increase the risk of death, but the results are inconclusive.

Death becomes possible between 50 to 150 milliamps. That’s the range where a shock could cause ventricular fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat that stops the heart from pumping enough blood that can be deadly.

Injuries inflicted by the actual barbs are more widely reported. The doctors said that in at least 1 per cent of cases, the Taser’s barbs hit people in the face and there are numerous instances of eye injuries and skin lacerations.