Over 10 Years Old Taser Guns... 53.7% Obsolescence Rate This Year
Fatal Incident in Gwangju in April After Taser Gun Use
The introduction of the Korean-style electronic stun gun, which the National Police Agency had been developing since 2016, has been confirmed to have failed. Meanwhile, the aging rate of the tasers held by the National Police Agency has exceeded half.
According to the National Assembly audit data submitted by Han Byung-do, a member of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea from the Administrative and Security Committee of the National Assembly (Jeonbuk Iksan-si Eul), the Korean-style electronic stun gun, developed with a total project cost of 1.35 billion KRW since July 2016, failed the final delivery inspection and was not introduced in the field.
Assemblyman Han Byung-do (The Minjoo Party of Korea·Iksan-eul, Jeonbuk·Public Administration and Security Committee). [Photo by Assemblyman Han Byung-do's Office]
Until now, the National Police Agency has been promoting the development of the Korean-style electronic stun gun to complement the shortcomings of existing tasers, strengthen frontline police response capabilities, and localize equipment. After completing research and development, the police purchased 100 trial products from March 2020 to July 2021 and conducted six rounds of full inspections, but concerns were raised about safety and effectiveness as the defect rate reached 90%.
Subsequently, the National Police Agency announced that the defect rate improved dramatically to 0% in the seventh full inspection conducted in November 2021, four months after the sixth inspection. After a pilot operation in 2022, they signed a purchase contract for 2,755 units and prepared for field deployment.
However, the final delivery inspections conducted in July and October of last year were failed, resulting in the failure of the introduction. Moreover, they have not recovered the advance payment of 2.943 billion KRW made for the purchase of devices and cartridges (electrode needles) and are currently in litigation with the development company.
Han Byung-do pointed out the development status of the Korean-style electronic stun gun during the 2020 and 2021 National Assembly Administrative and Security Committee audits. At the 2022 Budget and Accounts Committee budget adjustment subcommittee, he expressed the opinion that safety and effectiveness had not been sufficiently verified and that it would be appropriate to proceed with new purchases after additional inspections. Despite the National Assembly's criticism, the police attempted to purchase a product that was not fully verified, ultimately leading to the failure of field introduction.
Meanwhile, it was confirmed that one out of every two tasers held by the National Police Agency is an aged product exceeding a 10-year service life. Due to the failure to introduce the Korean-style electronic stun gun, new tasers were not distributed last year, causing the aging rate to soar to 57.6% at that time.
There are also concerns that aged tasers cannot guarantee safety. In April of this year, a suspect subdued with a taser in Gwangju died, and it was revealed that the device used at the time was an aged product introduced in July 2010.
Representative Han said, "Tasers are a key physical force directly related to the safety of the public and frontline police officers," and criticized, "Despite repeatedly raising issues about the Korean-style electronic stun gun during past audits and budget reviews, the National Police Agency forced the introduction, which ultimately resulted in equipment introduction failure and waste of taxpayers' money. The National Police Agency should be held accountable."
He added, "The National Police Agency should promptly decide whether to continue the Korean-style electronic stun gun development project and establish measures to replace aged devices to ensure taser safety."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
