New police tasers to be introduced in troubled NT community

NT Police to rollout new long-range tasers, starting with remote and regional communities In short: Northern Territory Police will introduce 750 long-range "Taser 10" tasers over the next five years. Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro says the tasers will be deployed to "hot spots" and "high impact areas" across the Northern Territory. What's next? Police in Wadeye, Katherine and Alice Springs will be the first to receive the tasers, with the rest of the NT to follow. Northern Territory Police say they're starting the rollout of new long-range tasers to a remote outback community battling ongoing unrest, with the rest of the territory to soon follow suit. The new tasers, Taser 10, can discharge 10 individually targeted probes without needing to be reloaded and will double the maximum range of current police tasers to 13.7 metres. NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the five-year rollout of the 750 new tasers would be focused on "hot spots" and "high impact areas" across the Northern Territory. "What we have right now is 100 ready to go, and we will be deploying 100 tasers across Wadeye, Alice Springs and Katherine,"she said. "This is about giving our police the resources they need to do their job safely and effectively." Ms Finocchiaro said training would be rolled out to currently serving police officers, as well as recruits through the police college. Wadeye in focus NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole said the remote community of Wadeye, south-west of Darwin, would be one of the first areas where the $6.5 million overhaul of frontline taser technology would be rolled out. There has been ongoing unrest in the remote town for months, including alleged use of crossbows, machetes and spears, with at least with one man seriously injured. Last Monday, Northern Territory Police said two police vehicles had been damaged when an officer attempted to rescue a man inside his house in Wadeye following another large disturbance of more than 100 people. Commissioner Dole said additional resources have been sent to Wadeye. "There has been significant ongoing unrest in Wadeye since the beginning of August, the current unrest is associated with a current non-suspicious death that occurred in the community," he said. "Wadeye is one of the first communities where we gave the officers there alternative less-than-lethal munitions such as chemical weapons, and they'll be one of the first to have this new technology. "Taser is one use of force by the Northern Territory Police, it's not the be all or end all." In May, police deployed oleoresin capsicum canisters, also known as pepper spray, to disperse fighting in the community. Unrest continued this week, with NT Police yesterday calling for information about a 23-year-old man who was struck in the foot by an arrow. They said the alleged offender has not been identified and do believe the incident to be linked to ongoing unrest between family groups. Tracking concerns overcome Northern Territory Police Union President Nathan Finn said there's "been some big learning hurdles" since the Taser 10 model was first introduced in Queensland. He said he was aware of an ABC Four Corners investigation earlier this year that revealed taser and body-worn cameras could be tracked with a simple phone app, which included tasers made by Taser 10's parent company Axon. "We've been working with Axon Australia and their representatives through the police federation of Australia to get answers to some those concerns which have been eliminated essentially through software updates," he said. Mr Finn said tracking officers using the new taser tech was "definitely not" a concern, but they were still working through some other technology hurdles. "Those learnings are going to continue as well as we roll them out into our membership," he said. He said the tasers would ultimately improve their members' safety overall by doubling the reach of the current taser model. [Image text:] PETERKEN POLICE