Only some of the city police forces carry a taser on them. Now it is checked whether an upgrade makes sense.
A patrol from the Zurich City Police, here on Oberen Letten. Taser carries only the intervention unit on itself.
Seventh-day Adventist worship is in full swing when the incident occurs. A man threatens to harm himself this Saturday morning. When the alarmed patrol from Zurich’s city police arrived on Brahmsstrasse, the 60-year-old pulled out a butcher’s knife. The police tried to incapacitate the man with pepper spray – without success. He begins to injure his stomach with the knife. Finally, a police officer shoots him in the leg.
The man took part in the service but left because he was not feeling well mentally, says Marvin Brand, spokesman for the Free Church. Therefore he was accompanied by members of the church in an adjoining room. Since the situation had not calmed down, the police were called to help. Brand does not want to give any further information about the exact circumstances of the incident in order to protect the privacy of the person.
The man who self-harmed is not a member of the church, Brand says. He had been attending church services for a few weeks. “We very much regret what happened,” says Brand, who was not there on Saturday. The people who accompanied the man and witnessed the incident would be supported by the local pastor. It is hoped that the injured person is on the mend. Members of the church had already visited him in the hospital.
Cops didn’t have tasers on them
Criminal proceedings are now being opened against the city police officer who shot the man. This is a standard procedure: the public prosecutor’s office must clarify whether the shooting was justified.
It is not often that the Zurich City Police use firearms and injure people. Zurich police commander Daniel Blumer said in an interview with the NZZ at the end of May shortly before his departure that he had experienced two such incidents in his nine years. And he also said that Tasers would have been the better way from his point of view. In contrast to firearms, these are not fatal.
Saturday’s incident is likely to give new impetus to the debate. Because within the city police, only the intervention unit is equipped with Tasers – it has 24 devices – the normal patrols are not. The police officers who had moved to Brahmsstrasse were not carrying an electric shock weapon.
The use of tasers is controversial. When a few years ago in Zurich’s city parliament the SVP called for “training and equipping all front-line police officers with Tasers”, the left resisted. It was criticized that the stun guns were dangerous because those attacked could injure themselves. Above all, there was concern that the tasers would be used more frequently if the system was upgraded. In fact, the number of missions has increased over the past few years, but then decreased in 2021.
Partial view of the Zurich Cantonal Police uniform with a yellow-handled taser.
Proponents say it’s better to use a taser than a gun. Security expert Fritz Lehmann helped to develop a guide on how Swiss police officers should use Tasers. He recently told the NZZ that there are clear instructions in the corps in the canton of Zurich as to when a destabilization device (DSG) may be used.
In fact, the discussion in the canton is more advanced than in the city: last year, the canton police announced that they would equip the emergency services with up to 191 new Tasers – including with the regional police. The security department wrote in a statement at the time: “With the use of a DSG, particularly dangerous situations can be brought under control quickly and relatively.” They may only be used by specially trained police officers.
In the department of head of security Karin Rykart (Greens), upgrading with Tasers is currently not an issue, as her spokesman stated at the end of May. The topic is still not closed. Spokeswoman Judith Hödl says the use of Tasers in patrols who have to carry out initial interventions is currently being discussed. Facts would be gathered and an interpretation made. “Once this is completed, we will first discuss the result and our findings with our political superiors.”
Saturday’s mission is also still being analyzed. There is also the question of whether it would have made more sense to use a taser instead of a gun.