Police electric weapon | Number of Taser deployments doubled in two years

On Wednesday, a 67-year-old man was nearly fatally tasered by police in Wuppertal. The man was allegedly carrying a knife in the pedestrian zone. According to the public prosecutor's office, he was "required to be resuscitated" "during the police operation." The journal Bürgerrechte & Polizei/Cilip has documented eleven deaths in connection with these "distance electroshock devices" (DEIG) since 2018. The official causes of death were regularly cited as heart problems, drug or alcohol consumption, and psychological distress – officially, any connection to the use of the electroshock weapon was mostly ruled out.

Now, for the first time, Cilip has received official statistics on Taser deployments in Germany. Between 2021 and 2023, the number of documented Taser deployments doubled to a total of 1,171. The data, collected by the Police Technology Institute of the German Police University, shows that in many cases, the deployment did not pose an immediate threat to life or limb. In 2023 alone, the individuals involved were unarmed in 662 cases.

Tasers are considered "non-lethal weapons," but they are not without risk. They fire two conductive darts at high speed that pierce the skin and trigger muscle spasms via wires. In contact mode, the Taser is placed directly against the body. For certain groups—including the elderly, pregnant women, or people with underlying medical conditions—even the police recommend caution when using them.

The police academy's statistics only record actual activations of the device. Mere threats, such as the visible targeting of the integrated laser or the clearly audible arc between the electrodes, are not counted. In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, the device was threatened about three times as often as actually used in 2023, according to a survey by the "nd" newspaper .

While Tasers were almost exclusively available to special units until the 2010s, they have increasingly been used in patrol duty since 2018. Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg, Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen, and Saarland have introduced them as standard practice. Pilot projects are underway in Berlin, Hamburg, Hesse, and the Federal Police.

The Taser statistics maintained by the Police Academy are similar to those on firearm use, which have been maintained since 1984, but provide far more detailed information: They also record age, gender, drug or alcohol consumption, type of injury, and medical consequences for those affected. According to the statistics, almost half of all Taser deployments in 2023 resulted in injuries. These were mostly minor or superficial injuries caused by the Taser's darts and electrodes, but also by falls resulting from muscle spasms.

In 229 cases, outpatient treatment was required, and in several dozen cases, inpatient treatment was required. One-fifth of these victims were subsequently involuntarily admitted to institutions under mental health laws. This demonstrates that Tasers are used extensively against the mentally ill.

There is no column for deaths in the official Taser lists – partly because, according to the authorities, they do not occur.

Although the scenario actually precludes their use, the right-wing police union DPolG is calling for the introduction of the weapons in patrol duty in Lower Saxony, even after the fatal shooting of Lorenz A. in Oldenburg. The 21-year-old fled from police on the night of Easter Sunday and was shot in the back by an officer – the use of a Taser is not permitted in such cases.