The announcement that 128 gardaí will trial Tasers starting this month in areas already piloting body-worn cameras might seem like a straightforward policy development. But this new decision reveals troubling trends in how Ireland approaches policing reform, evidence-based policymaking and human rights safeguards.
A properly designed pilot is a genuine test of whether an intervention works, and what impact it has. Robust evaluations of the kind essential to upholding Ireland’s human rights obligations must establish clear success criteria upfront, create comparison groups to isolate what causes the changes observed and clearly analyse and report findings for review before making decisions on implementation.
Running a Taser pilot in the same locations where body-worn cameras are being tested may seem to address human rights concerns through observation. But the overlaying of one pilot on top of another already in progress fundamentally confuses any results and prevents the robust evaluation necessary. If use-of-force patterns change during this six-month trial, it will be impossible to know which intervention caused the change.
This matters because what is being tested are fundamental changes to Irish policing. Tasers until now have only been used by specialist Garda units with greater controls. Instead of rigorous evidence-gathering, the rushed timeline, with the pilot beginning over the Christmas period, speaks to political urgency taking precedence over evaluation integrity. Starting a pilot over Christmas introduces another confounding variable, since separating the effects of Tasers and body-worn cameras from variations in the types of incidents gardaí respond to and patterns of alcohol-related disorder will be more than challenging.
READ MORE
As the Irish Council for Civil Liberties has already noted, the announcement has not made clear the precise issues the Minister and Commissioner feel Tasers will resolve and why such urgent implementation of the pilot is necessary. There are already calls from the Garda Representative Association for rapid Taser roll-out following this pilot, which raises the question of whether sufficient time for analysis of the findings will be allowed before a government decision.
As a researcher of policing and human rights for more than 20 years and lead author for the Policing Authority’s recent report Experiences of Policing amongst Brazilians and People of African Descent in Ireland, I have seen over and again how strong police oversight is essential for public trust and effective policing. Yet in the last year Ireland has already seen the powers of policing oversight bodies diminished by the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act, precisely when we need robust independent scrutiny most.
It will fall to those oversight bodies to review Taser deployments to ensure they are necessary and proportionate, and to oversee who audits body-worn camera footage to check it for misuse. Even with body-worn cameras, which should provide accountability, it is necessary for oversight mechanisms to be robust and independent.
Ireland has obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights to ensure that all use of force is necessary, proportionate and subject to effective accountability. The lack of stand-alone evaluation raises questions about whether these obligations are being taken seriously. The necessity of new options for frontline policy is not sufficient on its own to displace the need for adequate safeguards to prevent arbitrary or disproportionate use.
The number of gardaí assaulted in the course of their work deserves serious attention. But do Tasers address this problem? International evidence shows that Tasers can escalate situations, particularly when people are experiencing mental health crises. International research also shows that Tasers can cause significant physical injuries and psychological trauma, because an electrical current is used to create temporary paralysis in which people cannot move or speak. In extreme cases Taser usage has led to death. Heart defects, existing mental health problems and experiences of acute distress, common among vulnerable populations, expose them to greater effects.
[ Tasers – the five-second electric shock coming to frontline Irish policingOpens in new window ]
The question is not whether gardaí need adequate tools and training. Rather it is whether Ireland is learning from international evidence about when Tasers add to safety and when they reduce it. Patterns from other jurisdictions show disproportionate use against people experiencing mental health crises, those who are homeless, minority ethnic communities and other marginalised groups. This is why robust evaluation is necessary, so that specific and appropriate safeguards can be built in from the start.
As researchers and citizens, we need to insist on higher standards. Genuine evaluation design requires completing the body-worn camera pilot properly, analysing findings, making evidence-based decisions and learning from both the findings and the effectiveness of the pilot approach. Then it is appropriate to implement a separate Taser pilot with appropriate controls. There must be clear success/failure criteria too. If these are not established before the pilot begins, the approach is fundamentally flawed.
Success cannot be defined solely as more prosecutions or fewer complaints against gardaí. It requires robust measures of proportionality, differential impact across communities, privacy protection and community trust. The pilot must track whether Tasers are being used disproportionately against vulnerable groups and have mechanisms in place to respond if problematic patterns emerge.
The unarmed status of the Garda Síochána has long been seen as promoting a close relationship between the Garda and the public. It has been the envy of the international law enforcement community.
So the use of tasers merits political debate, consideration of the need and resources required and attention to oversight. Changes of this magnitude deserve more than a six-month pilot with a poor design and predetermined outcomes. Communities deserve better. Gardaí themselves deserve evidence-based tools and training, not politically expedient decisions that may ultimately undermine both their safety and their relationship with the public they serve.
Dr Lucy Michael is principal investigator at Lucy Michael Research Training and Consultancy and a former member of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission
