Government Authorized Police and Security Forces to Use Taser Guns

The national government approved Tuesday the regulation on the use of non-lethal electronic weapons, taser type, for members of the provincial and federal security forces.

The measure was finalized by Resolution 395/2019, published in the Official Journal on Tuesday.

The text indicates that the forces must proceed to the "immediate implementation of training courses specific to the use of non-lethal electronic weapons".

In the recitals of the resolution, the Ministry of Security establishes that non-lethal electronic weapons allow "operational situations in which the use of force without the use of firearms is necessary", while specifying that this type of instruments only produce "transient effects in the human organism without causing loss of knowledge".

The regulation, annexed to the resolution, establishes the following cases for the use of non-lethal electronic weapons.

• Immobilize, arrest, or prevent the escape of anyone who is in imminent danger of injuring others or injuring themselves.
• When self-defense or that of third parties should be exercised.
• Prevent the commission of a crime of public action.

In addition, its use is limited to police forces and federal forces, after being identified as "a vocal warning of immediate intervention" except when it is "manifestly inadequate or unnecessary".

Imminent danger

In the meantime, in the case of "imminent danger", the regulation establishes three types of cases:

• When threatening behaviors are developed that endanger the physical integrity of the agent or third party.
• When violent behavior is indicated, they indicate the imminence of an attack on the agent or on third parties.
• When the number of offenders or the unpredictability of the badault used significantly hampers the exercise of the function or the ability to exercise self-defense or that of others.

Registration

Finally, the text also states that it will proceed to the preservation "of the internal memory of the material used, in order to achieve the relevant administrative control".