The National Police prepares the entry into service of its first 150 electric pistols

A 'mosso' receives the discharge of an electric pistol during a test with these weapons, in 2019.M.

minocri

The National Police is preparing the entry into service of the first 150 stun guns of the thousand that it acquired in 2020 for 2.1 million euros. The deputy director of operations (DAO), the highest uniformed command of the body, commissioner José Ángel González, has sent two communications to the police stations in recent days in which, in addition to indicating which headquarters will receive these first weapons (the one that will receive the most it will be that of Madrid, with 30), orders the agents to only use them when "an event or specific danger occurs in cases of urgency or urgent need", according to one of these documents to which EL PAÍS has had access. These first devices (known by their trade name Taser) will be delivered to uniformed Citizen Security agents, although other groups, such as the GEO, will also receive them.

The stun guns fire darts with electrodes, attached to the weapon by a cable, which, when they reach the body, cause a shock that interferes with the signals that the brain sends to the muscles and temporarily incapacitates the person who receives the impact.

Their use is controversial, since they are related to several deaths in other countries, according to Amnesty International.

In Spain, a judge from Badalona (Barcelona) has been investigating since December the death of a man who 24 hours earlier had been reduced by the Mossos d'Esquadra with one of these weapons.

In the instructions, the

of the Police reminds the agents that, whenever they use it, they must communicate it "within 24 hours to the delegate or sub-delegate of the Government, or competent authority of the autonomous communities." In addition, the commissioner emphasizes that "always" the camera that the agent will carry must be automatically activated so that the action is recorded. The images will be uploaded to the Caviper police archive (video recording cameras for individual use), registered by the Interior in December.

According to police sources, the obligation to record the proceedings has limited the number of pistols that will begin to be used in the short term.

The Police only have 150 of these cameras, despite the fact that they have received 600 stun guns (half of them 15 months ago, in October 2020) of the 1,000 contracted.

The remaining 400 pistols will be delivered in February, according to the contract awarded to Axon, the company that markets them.

These devices – exclusively for police or military use, and which cannot be acquired by individuals, according to the weapons regulations – can only be used by agents who, as the commissioner's document recalls, “have passed the necessary theoretical-practical training to their possession, use and management. As reported by the Ministry of the Interior to the police unions on Wednesday, so far 103 police officers have received this training, who must instruct their colleagues.

The Police elaborated more than a year ago the protocol for the use of these pistols.

They can only be used to "reduce, immobilize or detain" people who resist, who have a violent attitude or who threaten agents or third parties with knives and dangerous objects.

It also contemplates its use in the event of suicide attempts.

On the contrary, it prohibits its use with children, pregnant women, the elderly and “people with weak health”.

The protocol includes the need to "guarantee medical assistance" to the person receiving the discharge.

The Ombudsman's warning

The Mossos d'Esquadra, the Ertzaintza and more than 200 bodies of the Local Police have stun guns.

According to Axon, the marketing company, there are more than 2,000 in Spain.

This proliferation has led the Ombudsman to warn several times about the risk of "abusive use" after recalling that "they cause pain and suffering".

In April, he asked the Interior to regulate in an "exhaustive and detailed" way the use of this device for all police forces.

Javier Ramírez, director of Axon, defends that its use is safe and that, in most cases, "it is not necessary to shoot because it works as a deterrent".

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