TASER is designed as a Less Lethal Weapon, to be used as a distance control device, to temporarily incapacitate a person through use of an electrical pulse, disrupting the body’s muscular motor nerves, which are required for maintaining posture and balance. This usually causes the person to go rigid or crumple to the ground, giving officers time to restrain them.
It projects a pair of barbs or darts attached to insulated wires, which attach to the subject’s skin or clothing. The device delivers its electrical charge in a five-second cycle which can be repeated, interrupted, or extended, if deemed proportionate, necessary and justified in the circumstances.
It is one of a number of tactical options available to police officers when dealing with an incident where there is the potential for harm – to potential victims and / or the public, the police officers themselves, or the subject.
The way a TASER is used by police officers is categorised into a range of escalating actions from drawing the device, through to it being discharged (i.e. fired, drive stunned or angled drive-stunned).