The Buenos Aires government today endorsed the use by the security forces of non-lethal weapons, such as taser guns, within the framework of a discussion that was updated in the last hours by the episode starring the singer Santiago “Chano”Moreno Charpentier, who in an alleged mental health episode wanted to attack a policeman with a knife and the latter, to arrest him, shot the former leader of Tan Biónica in the abdomen.
“In the city of Buenos Aires we believe that for certain uses they can be an alternative. We have evaluated it at the time, we have trained City personnel and we are evaluating some procedure to incorporate them exclusively for certain uses“Said the Buenos Aires Chief of Staff, Felipe Miguel, at a press conference.
According to the official, this type of weapon “has the peculiarity that in places where there is a large public, a lot of people, it can be an additional tool for the police, who have to be trained; it is an alternative tool ”.
Yesterday, once the incident with Chano was known (who, as a result of the shot, lost a kidney, spleen and part of the pancreas), the first leader to consider the use of Taser guns was the Buenos Aires Minister of Security, Sergio Berni. “It is a good time to argue again that if the police had a taser this would not have happened. He attacked the police officers with a knife and the policeman did what he had to do: he neutralized him. He is alive because he was lucky. It could have been avoided and it is necessary to give this discussion ”, he said in an interview on Radio 10.
The truth is that this same controversy had taken public relevance in September of last year, after the murder of Federal Police officer Juan Pablo Roldán. These are two cases in which the aggressors involved suffer addictions or serious psychiatric pathologies and, if the security forces had been equipped with Taser guns, perhaps no deaths or serious injuries would have been lamented.
On that occasion, a 51-year-old man, identified as Rodrigo Rozas, He accosted two people who were having lunch in a restaurant on Figueroa Alcorta avenue with a knife. Roldán and other colleagues, who were working at a nearby police station, approached the aggressor to dissuade him.
Roldán did not want to repel Rozas’ attack and received four stab wounds to the chest. After being wounded, the police officer fired a shot in self-defense. Both the victim and the assailant died.
Another leader who rekindled the debate was Carolina Píparo, who pointed out against the ruling party for having repealed the protocols for the use of Tasers that had been promoted by the former Minister of Security, Patricia bullrich. “Kirchnerism advances so that there are no institutions to treat people suffering from addictions or serious psychiatric pathologies. Opposes the acquisition of Taser. All the ideological failures that they do not admit hurt, ”said the provincial deputy from Buenos Aires for the PRO.
The Chief of Staff and head of the Security Area of the Municipality of Lanús, Diego Kravetz, manifested itself along the same lines. “Is reducing a person going through a psychiatric crisis with lead bullets a guarantee? Is it soft hand? He wondered. All the fallacious arguments that we have heard crumble in the face of a case, of which there are many more every day, but which never reach public discussion. If every policeman had a taser gun, Chano would have been quickly controlled and would not be fighting for his life in a hospital. We must move forward with policies that take care of the people and let the police forces act”.
For his part, the national deputy for Together for Change, Louis petri, assured that both federal and provincial forces should be equipped with Taser pistols, in addition to receiving adequate training for their correct use. In that sense, he explained its fundamentals: “If we had had the Tasers, today we would not have to regret cases like those of Chano or the death of the police officer Roldán. In December 2019, the current Government repealed the protocol for the use of firearms and non-lethal weapons, tying hands and exposing the Police ”.
“There has been no will or decision to provide the Police of the province of Buenos Aires or the Federal Police with this essential tool to repel attacks without putting life at risk. The double talk of Sergio Berni, the Minister of Security of Buenos Aires, is evident, because on the one hand he demands the Tasers and, on the other, he does not acquire them when it is his responsibility and is empowered to do so. Since they repealed the resolution of @PatoBullrich, I have been demanding its reinstatement so as not to tie the Police’s hands and preserve people’s lives, “he said.
While Natalia Volosin, an expert lawyer in the fight against corruption and criminality, referred to the event with a certain irony: “It is really encouraging that the debate on how to deal with a patient with mental health problems is Taser or Lead.”.
In December 2019, the Minister of National Security, Sabina Frederic, repealed the protocols for the use of firearms and Tasers. The official ordered that a protocol be drawn up that “fully regulates the conditions and precautions under which the special bodies of the police and security forces are empowered to use less lethal electronic weapons, can proceed to their use, after specific training ”.
“The absence of regulation on how this weapon should be used causes a situation of exponential danger -may transform its use into lethal-, since the distance at which the weapon should be used is not clearly delimited, the places on the body where the discharges can be made, how long they should last, if they can be repeated, the population on which its use must be totally prohibited, how to proceed in the event of a possible decompensation, what medical controls must be carried out later in order not to suffer health problems, among many other circumstances ”, warns the resolution.
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