Italian police on Tuesday got
an initial green light to try using Taser stun guns after an
increase in violent assaults on officers including soccer
violence.
The news was welcomed by police unions but met with dismay
by opposition parties.
The police force received a first OK to use Tasers on a
trial basis thanks to a motion by Gregorio Fontana of the
centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party of former premier Silvio
Berlusconi, which has always been strong on law-and-order
issues.
The motion must still be approved by the Lower House before
the trial use of the electroshock weapon, used by police
services in many countries, can begin.
Proponents say the weapons have allowed police to subdue
dangerous suspects with fewer injuries than when guns are used.
However, critics have complained the use of Tasers can
result in serious injury and even death.
The motion was approved after Italian Deputy Interior
Minister Filippo Bubbico reworded the motion to say
experimentation must take place "with necessary precautions for
the health and safety of the public and in accordance with the
principles of precaution, and after consultation with the health
minister".
Fontana said his motion's approval constituted "a first
real step toward the introduction of the Taser as a tool
supplied to police".
"It is hoped that the condition laid down by the rewording
of the motion" does not impede "technological modernization of
extreme usefulness for security operators and all citizens,"
Fontana went on.
The head of one of Italy's police unions, ANFP, Lorena La
Spina, hailed the news.
"We express satisfaction for the amendment aimed at
adopting Tasers with the nessary caution for public safety," she
said in a statement.
She recommended that Tasers with an automatic video
recording facility should be used "from the outset as they are
in France and North America, so as to allay possible public
concerns on their use".
But the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) criticised
the plans, saying the money should be used to raise officers'
salaries instead.
"It has not been said how much these toy guns will cost us,
while our amendments to lift the cap on police officers' wages
have been declared inadmissible," MPs for the opposition
movement led by gadfly ex-comedian Beppe Grillo said.
"This is the priority of the government and majority:
electric guns instead of unblocking wages and protecting the
health of the police force," they said.
Another opposition party, Left, Ecology and Freedom (SEL)
said "Tasers have been proven dangerous on so many occasions in
the past and we are afraid they will be used indiscriminately
once they are approved".
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