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Four Corners - Season Episode 12 - Taser Tactics
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00:18emergency video all I could see were lights so I pulled up and then got out and that's when I
00:25realized it was a police car if I didn't have the video no one would have believed me the video
00:33footage is what got them tasers were sold as a way to stop dangerous police encounters without taking
00:47a life it's like getting hit with a lightning bolt up your bum today they're carried by police
00:55officers in every state and territory in Australia but they're being used in situations they were never
01:02intended for do you think your mum was a threat that night she couldn't have been a threat to
01:09anyone if she wanted to 95 years old 43 kilos on a walking ground why would they taser a girl
01:21with a
01:21disability at a disability school only one company makes and sells these weapons what if we did make
01:29the bullet obsolete a 32 billion dollar tech giant that's made itself indispensable to police around
01:37the world I would say Axon is a scary company how embedded would you say that Axon is now with
01:44police
01:44they're captured I cannot see a way in which police can separate their reliance Axon says its devices
01:53save lives but when something goes wrong after someone is tasered who really decides what happened
02:01I think I was lobbied I felt like I was being bullied they answer to the church of taser
02:06such as I was talking about what she kept from a delivery all around Santa he wanted to wilts their
02:21help with an increased six years ago in 2014 at UTB and passed along officials on twitter
02:21UNF…
02:21UNF…
02:21UNF…
02:36UNF…
02:36Stephen used to visit this property every day.
02:43All right, so this is the entrance to the farm.
02:48He still can't believe what police did to him here
02:51late one night in 2024 when he was checking the sprinklers.
02:55Normally, I reach forward like this when I'm looking around
02:58because it's dark, and as I went back,
03:00then I noticed the police car in the mirror.
03:02It was a set of lights, I noticed,
03:05and that's when I got out.
03:11So this is where it happened, right here, then?
03:13Yeah. Yeah, the majority of it happened here.
03:23I'm in front of the property.
03:24Get on the ground or I will taster you.
03:26Get on the ground or taser.
03:29Don't taser me, I'm in front of the camera.
03:30Get on the ground. Get on the ground or I will taster you.
03:33Why? Get on the ground.
03:33The taser was fired within 30 seconds
03:36of Stephen getting out of his car.
03:38Stand now!
03:39I'm coming to my ground or property.
03:41Morning, guys!
03:41I'm on the ground or I will taster you.
03:46I'm on the ground or I will taster you.
03:47I'm on the ground or I will taster you.
03:47Stop behind the taser, taser, taser, taser, taser, taser, taser, taser, taser, get on the ground.
03:52Get on the ground or I will taster you.
03:57This is quite a problem.
03:58What the fuck's coming with you?
03:59Get down there!
04:01I'm done!
04:01I'm done!
04:02I'm done!
04:03When you hit with the taser, what did it feel like?
04:07Oh, your chest is...
04:09The heart is just like an equivalent muscle.
04:11It's just doing this.
04:12It's basically like having a heart attack.
04:17Stephen's lawyer Jeremy King says the use of a taser that night was both excessive
04:22and in clear breach of policies in the Victoria Police manual.
04:30The big point here for you, mate, is CEDs or tasers must not be used against people offering
04:36passive resistance.
04:37You are clearly offering passive resistance, so on their own rules, on their own manual,
04:42they should never have used the taser on you.
04:46Victoria Police told us Stephen was known to them and officers stopped him because he
04:52had his headlights off and sped away when approached.
04:55Local police reviewed the incident, finding the actions of its officers was appropriate.
05:02Stephen sued Victoria Police for unlawful arrest and battery.
05:07The case recently settled with police paying him $250,000 in compensation plus his legal costs.
05:16The fact that no charges were laid against him is extremely telling.
05:20Is it not arguable that this is just a case of one officer maybe making a poor decision
05:28in that moment rather than something more systemic?
05:32I've heard that one before and unfortunately my firm has seen many different examples where
05:37tasers have been used inappropriately.
05:41Police manuals in every state and territory set out guidelines on taser use.
05:49In Queensland, officers are warned multiple taserings have been linked to deaths.
05:55New South Wales Police are told not to taser certain people, including the elderly and children,
06:02except in exceptional circumstances.
06:08New South Wales is the only state that transparently reports its taser use.
06:15The data shows incidents involving taserings have almost doubled in the last five years.
06:23How do you respond to criticisms that tasers are just being overused by police and not in circumstances that are
06:31warranted?
06:32Look, I think for any criticism to be levelled, it needs to be done on the basis of the circumstances
06:38that exist in an individual situation.
06:42That can be very difficult to do when you look at bulk statistical data.
06:46To be clear, why do you think tasers are being drawn more often then?
06:51There are more tasers being used across the state by police more generally.
06:56It is a tactical option.
06:58Often, you know, it is a situation that police are confronted by.
07:02Angry, argumentative people may be violent and they do it to protect life essentially.
07:06Should it ever be used just purely for compliance?
07:10It's not a compliance tool.
07:22In the past two decades, 18 people in Australia have died following a police incident involving tasers.
07:31There were six deaths in the past five years alone.
07:34One of those was 95-year-old Claire Nowland.
07:39She was agitated.
07:41She couldn't comprehend what was the situation.
07:45I mean, she wouldn't know what a taser was.
07:50New South Wales police officer Christian White and his colleague had arrived at a nursing home to search for the
07:57great-grandmother,
07:58who was holding a steak knife and hiding out of sight.
08:04After finding her inside a room, White drew his taser.
08:08It took less than a minute for him to mutter three words,
08:12Nah, bugger it, before he discharged the weapon.
08:17While he's been sacked and convicted of manslaughter,
08:21Claire Nowland's family still has questions they want New South Wales police to address.
08:27What has the last few years been like for your family?
08:30Oh, it's hard to explain.
08:34Yeah.
08:37Yeah, that's all right.
08:39Yeah.
08:39Sorry.
08:42It's been very horrific, I mean, to go through what we've gotten, you know, and we still toss and turn
08:48to this very day,
08:51asking us, you know, why did this happen, you know?
08:55There were so many solutions for it to be de-escalated, you know.
09:01How can I help you sort this out?
09:03And what's happening here?
09:04New South Wales police officers undergo mandatory taser training every year.
09:10They want you to come in, Claire.
09:11Let's go!
09:12This is a warning that the taser will be deployed.
09:15I need you to comply with my directions.
09:19Christian White was up to date with his training, having only completed it a few months before he killed Claire.
09:26The senior officer beside him that night, an acting sergeant,
09:30also gave evidence at the trial that she agreed the tasering was justified.
09:37I still can't understand why either of them would think that their actions were appropriate,
09:42you know, it was a gutless action and an inhumane action.
09:48Turn around, do that now.
09:50After Claire's death, New South Wales police reviewed its taser policy,
09:54but found it wasn't necessary to make any changes,
09:58a matter which will likely be considered at an upcoming inquest.
10:03Obviously, because Mrs Nolan's matter will be before the coroner very shortly,
10:08and it's therefore not appropriate that we comment on that.
10:10Do you feel confident that there are no gaps in the training that you're offering officers?
10:16Look, I believe the training is first class.
10:18The training certainly reflects what the policy and legislation is,
10:21and I'm quite confident in the training that we deliver.
10:29Police use of tasers is under scrutiny in other states too.
10:38It was here in North Queensland that a particularly disturbing taser incident took place,
10:43involving a schoolgirl with a disability,
10:46who police were trying to interview as a potential victim of sexual assault.
11:01This is T. Joanna McLennan.
11:04She lives with an intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, epilepsy,
11:09visual impairment and paralysis of her right hand.
11:14She likes to spend time at her local library.
11:18Let me talk you through what we're going to do.
11:20I'm a bit nervous.
11:22Yeah.
11:23At the time T. Joanna was tasered, she was 16 years old
11:27and described as having the intellectual capacity of a year one or two student.
11:33Today, she's determined to explain the impact it's had on her.
11:49T. Joanna has experienced increased seizures since she was tasered.
11:54I can't wait to get on to him.
11:57I have to wait pull-ups to get on to him.
11:59And I can't go to the toilet anymore.
12:05I can't wait.
12:09Don't do it.
12:13I appreciate you being brave and talking to us.
12:17Yeah.
12:26For six years now, her family's been trying to hold Queensland police accountable.
12:30It was February 2020 when two officers investigating allegations Tijuana had been abused arrived
12:37at her school to interview her.
12:40Her mum, Robin, says she instantly felt overwhelmed.
12:48They went up there to ask her questions and she didn't want to answer them.
12:52She told them she didn't want to talk to them.
12:54That's what set her off.
13:01Outside, Tijuana picked up a plastic cricket bat and was hitting things before staff started calming her down.
13:12So it was when Tijuana went into a room and tried to close the door behind her that police drew
13:18the taser.
13:19The officer apparently said that he feared she was going to pick up a knife or something.
13:24That's when she was tasered.
13:31What went through your head when you heard that, that your daughter had been tasered?
13:37I was, I mean, I got really upset because I was thinking, why would they taser a girl with a
13:42disability at a disability school?
13:53The incidents we've investigated raise issues over whether police are becoming too reliant on tasers.
14:12The more tools that police have, the less they rely on good old-fashioned policing skills like using your voice,
14:22like negotiation, like negotiation and tasers simply put the emphasis on coercion so much that it degrades good quality policing.
14:34Criminologist Dr Emma Ryan has spent her career researching tasers,
14:39which were first introduced to Australia more than 20 years ago,
14:43mostly as a way to stop police shootings.
14:46Firearms deaths have not decreased since tasers have been introduced.
14:51Mission creep is what I have observed occurring.
14:56So if a police officer pulled a firearm out in a lot of the cases that we see around tasers,
15:03we'd have a very, we'd be living in the Wild West, basically.
15:10Get on the ground!
15:12Get on the ground!
15:15Stop where you are!
15:18Taser, taser, taser!
15:23The market for conducted energy weapons is dominated by just one company.
15:30It's a $32 billion tech giant whose CEO takes home a bigger pay packet than the boss of Apple.
15:39I believe we're approaching the end of war and the end of killing as an acceptable aspect of human society.
15:47I think a world without the taser weapon is one that is far more dangerous than the one we live
15:53in.
16:04The company captured the Australian market through a retired special operations cop from Melbourne.
16:11And you might say to someone, you know, that's aware of what they're doing,
16:16just say, have a look at your chest.
16:18Meet George Hately.
16:20Yeah.
16:20So I'm going to put 50,000 volts there.
16:23In George, the company found a fearless ally.
16:27And the ultimate salesman.
16:30Ready to order to do it.
16:31On the count of three.
16:33Whoa!
16:34Ah!
16:34Ah!
16:35Ah!
16:36Ah!
16:38Woo!
16:39I was the most knowledgeable person in the country about taser.
16:46And you've been tasered yourself.
16:48Tell me about that.
16:49Thirteen times.
16:50Thirteen times.
16:51Not counting.
16:52Well, you clearly are counting.
16:54Yeah.
16:55You don't...
16:55You can remember every one of them.
16:57But it's quite painful.
17:00Ah!
17:01Ah!
17:02Yeah, because be real with me.
17:03What does it really feel like?
17:05I've obviously never been tasered.
17:06What's the sensation?
17:07Well, to the police, in a room full of police, I've said,
17:11it's like getting hit with a lightning bolt up your bum.
17:14It's just, you know, just frightening pain and severe shock of, you know, something like
17:20that.
17:21And that's what you want for pain compliancy, for sure.
17:24You're a deterrent.
17:25And the message goes through the community, the criminal community, that, hey, don't muck
17:30around.
17:30If they say we're going to taise you, give up.
17:33Put your hands up.
17:34Please welcome CEO and founder of Axon, Rick Smith.
17:42George's unrelenting passion for taser is nothing compared to Axon's leader.
17:50Thank you, everybody.
17:52Rick Smith is a zealot.
17:54He is a taser zealot.
17:56Zero in on a target.
17:58Take off the safety.
18:01And fire.
18:04Heavens.
18:06Rick Smith took an invention from the 1970s that never took off.
18:14And revolutionised the technology.
18:18Turn the taser on, the taser off.
18:20Part of how they did that is by raising the level of electrical discharge that comes out
18:26of the taser.
18:28That created new risks to human life.
18:31Initially, the success was quite good.
18:34A lot of people flocking to buy shares.
18:36But then cases started to hit the courts.
18:40Tonight, police in the town of Clay are trying to figure out why a man died after being tasered
18:45by one of their officers.
18:46The Polish immigrant was announced dead after RCMP officers tasered him at the Vancouver
18:51airport last month.
18:53People were freaking out.
18:54Politicians.
18:55It was out of control.
18:58Don't tase me, bro!
18:59Don't tase me!
19:08In the United States, lawsuits over taser-related deaths kept mounting.
19:15This posed an existential threat to the company because if they got into the habit of losing
19:20these cases, it would very quickly eat up their entire profit margin.
19:25The company set up what research scientist Justin Feldman describes as a product defence strategy
19:33to counter litigation and negative publicity.
19:36The crux of that strategy would be to bring together medical experts in various fields and fund them
19:46to do studies showing their product to be favourable and who would testify in court that tasers did not kill
19:57people.
19:58Axon's extensive network of experts included emergency doctors, a neuroscientist, and biomedical engineers.
20:07Some of them owned shares in the company or sat on the board, all the while publishing studies and telling
20:14police tasers were safe.
20:17We can see over the years taser jealously guarding the reputation of its product to the point where they would
20:26even sue forensic pathologists who would dare to link taser to a death.
20:33That really happened?
20:34Yes.
20:42Very few scientists have publicly disputed Axon's safety claims.
20:51As a young doctor, cardiologist Zian Seng was quoted in the media, warning that tasers could stop the heart if
21:00deployed directly to the chest.
21:03Unbeknownst to me, I was really, I think, the first cardiologist to say such a connection could occur.
21:09Taser contacted me immediately and asked if they could have a conversation with me.
21:13Do they, did I really think it's lethal?
21:15You know, would you reconsider your statements?
21:19And that escalated, actually, to the point where they offered, you know, me to visit their company and offered me
21:26grant money, actually.
21:28He turned down their offer and instead did his own independent research on sudden deaths in police custody before and
21:36after tasers were introduced.
21:39And what we found surprised us that in the first year after taser deployment, there was a six-fold increase
21:45in sudden deaths.
21:46They really didn't like that study and they went to the lengths of taking us to federal court to try
21:53to compel the release of all of our research documents to attack our study.
21:57And thankfully, a judge refused that order.
22:01Sixteen years later, I've not seen any study that has refuted our study results.
22:08That same year, the company did make a concession, issuing a warning to police that repeated taserings and chest hits
22:16should be minimised to avoid controversy about whether tasers affect the human heart.
22:24Police customers were so concerned that CEO Rick Smith held a conference call to reassure them.
22:31I want to start by addressing a couple of the questions we've been receiving over email.
22:36The first one is, are chest hits with the taser dangerous?
22:40And the answer to that is definitively no.
22:44But the real sort of biggest reason here in my mind is risk management and avoiding the controversy.
22:52They weren't really conceding lethality.
22:54They were saying, you know, do that to avoid lawsuits.
23:05For decades now, Axon has actively tried to shape the science, evidence and legal outcomes around its signature device.
23:15At the centre of its strategy is a controversial diagnosis known as excited delirium.
23:24The term excited delirium first rose to prominence here in Miami during the 1980s when the city was in the
23:33midst of the cocaine boom.
23:37Excited delirium is a theory about how people die in police custody.
23:42It starts with a true reality, which is that there are people in the world who are in states of
23:50acute mental health crisis.
23:52Often that involves drugs like cocaine.
23:56Sometimes these individuals act aggressively.
23:58Often these individuals have high body temperature.
24:01The leap that they make is to go from those genuine symptoms to saying that those were the cause of
24:08death.
24:09Excited delirium has been rejected by medical and psychiatry groups.
24:15The World Health Organization has never recognised it.
24:19Yet the company has pushed it as the cause of death in taser incidents.
24:24And they really developed a rapid response plan that would follow any news story of a death related to tasers
24:31where they would intervene.
24:41Exactly how the company did this was laid bare in the death investigation of Israel Fernandez Locke, a young Miami
24:49graffiti artist known as Rifa.
24:54Hey Felix, how are you? I'm Grace. Nice to meet you.
24:57Nice to meet you too.
24:58Felix Fernandez witnessed the moment police tasered his friend after they caught him spray painting an abandoned building.
25:05And he runs straight towards a bank and he gets tased.
25:11And he was just face down on the floor in the dirt, not moving.
25:15And they were like, there's nothing to tell you, your friend is dead.
25:23Within four hours of the taser being deployed, the company injected itself into the death investigation.
25:30In an email to Miami police marked confidential, taser executives provided urgent instructions ahead of the autopsy.
25:44Law enforcement is given an excited delirium checklist where they can check off different kinds of signs and symptoms that
25:52they attribute to this condition.
25:56The company pushed for brain tissues to be sent ASAP to the University of Miami's Brain Endowment Bank to look
26:05for excited delirium markers.
26:07It didn't mention the lead researcher there at the time was its paid expert witness in multiple lawsuits.
26:19Despite taser's efforts, the medical examiner found the death was heart failure due to the taser discharge.
26:26But the company was never found liable.
26:31Across the U.S., excited delirium has been linked to 276 deaths following taser use.
26:43Death investigations are supposed to be neutral medical and scientific processes.
26:49And when a corporation inserts itself into the process and tries to sway things, that there are serious conflicts of
26:55interest involved.
27:02You might be thinking at this point, well, that wouldn't happen in Australia, where our coronial system that investigates deaths
27:09is just too robust.
27:11But that's not what our investigation has found.
27:15It has happened.
27:17I've been contacted by the organisation.
27:20I did an autopsy on a person who had died in custody.
27:26A taser had been used.
27:28And I was contacted.
27:32Professor Johan de Flew is a senior forensic pathologist who's investigated and given testimony in taser-related deaths.
27:41So we've got here the document, the excited delirium checklist.
27:45And all of these documents here were sent to you in an email from Axon.
27:55Yeah, that's my recollection.
27:57So this is what you should do, including obtaining the various samples, et cetera, et cetera, including contacting the University
28:06of Miami Brain Endowment Bank.
28:08Did you feel at all pressured to follow some of their advice or instructions?
28:18I think I was lobbied, not necessarily pressured.
28:25Was the lobbying successful?
28:28Well, in the end, no, it wasn't.
28:30I don't think it influenced me.
28:50We've found Axon's key defence, excited delirium, has found traction in other cases here.
28:57It's been a long time, but I think of him a lot.
29:03These people, this Church of Taser, pushed for excited delirium to coincide at the same time as their weapon, discharge.
29:15The death of Antonio Galliano is one of Australia's most controversial taser incidents.
29:26He died in June 2009 as police restrained him during a violent, drug-induced mental health episode at his friend's
29:36home.
29:38It's controversial because of the 28 firings.
29:42That's why.
29:44His sister Giovanna now realises the full extent of Axon's involvement in the investigation and inquest.
29:53Do you feel like you got the truth?
29:56No.
29:57No.
29:57It was anything but the truth.
30:02Right from the start, the company's representatives were in contact with police investigating the death.
30:10Yeah, I got a phone call the next morning from the homicide squad up in Queensland and said,
30:16George, this guy's been tasered and we need to talk to you.
30:19And after the brief discussion, I said, taser didn't kill him.
30:24And they said, how can you be so certain?
30:25I said, I am 100% certain.
30:28What did make you so confident?
30:32I'd been to America quite a few times, sat down with these doctors and said, tell me, guys, I need
30:38to know, does this thing kill?
30:40You know, what happens in this scenario?
30:42What happens if they've got a pacemaker?
30:43What happens if they're feeble?
30:45What happens if they're, whatever, you know, heart attacks?
30:48And they said, George, it doesn't affect the heart.
30:50And so you were convinced by these doctors and researchers at Tays International?
30:55By facts and evidence.
30:58We've examined the coronial files and discovered Tayser's own experts and their research feature heavily in this case,
31:06including references in the pathologist's autopsy findings.
31:10He found that my brother died of excited delirium.
31:17That was the first time I'd ever heard of it.
31:19Inquest documents show the pathologist conceded he had minimal experience of excited delirium,
31:27but read up on the experiences of American experts and literature to make his findings.
31:33We've found he relied on a report of a Tayser board member and also referred to the excited delirium checklist.
31:42Tayser's got their fingers in it at every turn, so it becomes almost impossible to, you know,
31:50desegregate the truth from the propaganda.
31:55Lawyers for the company, Queensland police and the officer who fired the device brought in four American experts
32:03who were part of Tayser's network to testify on the cause of death.
32:08Three of them blamed excited delirium.
32:12They used excited delirium.
32:14They used the idea that he would have died anyway, whether the Tayser had been used or not.
32:20Why would they do that?
32:22Why put so much effort into convincing everyone that this excited delirium condition exists?
32:28Look, you use the word convincing, it's more informing.
32:31It's the coroner that makes that final decision.
32:37The coroner delivered her findings in November 2012.
32:41The cause of death was found to be excited delirium and the Tayser use was only very peripherally implicated.
32:52The findings were very hard to accept.
32:57Because even at the time of your brother's death, you're saying that excited delirium was surrounded in controversy.
33:02Yes, it was.
33:03Yes, it was.
33:04And it still is today.
33:05Well, it's debunked.
33:07It's not acknowledged as a condition.
33:12The findings are even more striking when compared with an inquest being held at the same time over the border
33:19in New South Wales.
33:20The death of Roberto Kirti.
33:23Chased by up to 11 police, Mr. Kirti was eventually brought down by a taser and handcuffed.
33:30But the tasering continued, along with capsicum spray.
33:35It's impossible to believe that he would have died but for the actions of police.
33:42I've never forgotten that.
33:44And I'm sorry to say that there was some appalling behaviour from police.
33:50And I, at the time, called it, like, behaviour from Lord of the Flies.
33:55As state coroner, Mary Jerram ended up making an open finding.
34:00But much like in Queensland, an expert witness on Tayser's payroll had argued excited delirium killed him.
34:10What did you make of that evidence?
34:12Not much.
34:13Why was that?
34:15Well, well, I think he had a bias, an obvious bias.
34:19It makes a mockery, really, of expertise.
34:24If you're just appearing for a company that pays you, not good.
34:31The Axon ecosystem is the global operating system for public safety.
34:35Axon doesn't just sell tasers anymore.
34:38Equip your officers with industry-leading smart devices to effectively...
34:42It has an ever-expanding list of interconnected products that include body cameras, evidence software, AI tools and drones.
34:51The company is making itself indispensable to police at a furious pace.
34:58Join 18,000 agencies across the world that trust the Axon ecosystem to help them protect more lives in more
35:04places.
35:11Australian police are big customers.
35:14We've found more than $300 million in Axon contracts for body-worn cameras, tasers and other products.
35:22Victoria is rolling out 10,000 taser 7s to frontline police.
35:28And Queensland has recently signed a $47 million contract for more than 6,000 taser 10s.
35:40But the rapid adoption of Axon's new technology could have unintended consequences for frontline police.
35:51We've been contacted by a hacker who's discovered a major vulnerability in Bluetooth technology in Axon devices that he says
36:01is putting police lives at risk.
36:09He's worried about retaliation from Axon.
36:13He's worried about retaliation from Axon.
36:13Hello.
36:14How are you?
36:15I'm Grace.
36:16Nice to meet you.
36:17Nice to meet you too.
36:19And is asked that we don't use his name or show his face.
36:23What is it that you've discovered?
36:25Pretty much that you can track police devices via Bluetooth Low Energy from quite a significant distance away.
36:36Things like body-worn cameras, tasers.
36:39He shows us how he built his own proof-of-concept software and how it could be scaled up and
36:47weaponised by criminals.
36:49It could be used for ambushing the police, attacking them, escaping them, organised criminal gangs or whatever.
36:57He explains to us that every device that uses Bluetooth has its own digital footprint, a 12-digit code that's
37:06called a MAC address.
37:08Most mobile devices like Apple iPhones have inbuilt privacy features, making them harder to track.
37:15When he realised Axon's devices were detectable, he emailed police.
37:21I'm trying to raise a potentially serious cyber security issue with police.
37:26I've created software that can detect the presence of police officers from 400 metres away using a laptop or a
37:31phone.
37:33The Axon brand tasers need to be recalled.
37:36They leave the entire force essentially wearing beacons that broadcast their location.
37:41And what came of those emails?
37:43I got nothing but radio silence.
37:46So no police agency in Australia has ever written back to you about it?
37:50No.
37:55Alright, thanks for having us.
37:57So today's talk is snoop onto them as they snoop onto you.
38:00Details about the security floor are being shared online.
38:04There are even tutorials.
38:06The boys in blue are actually the boys in BLE.
38:08Last year, US border agents were told to stop using their body cameras in the field due to the potential
38:16security risks.
38:18This is like quite an open secret basically.
38:24There are already police tracking apps available publicly.
38:28The hacker downloads one to show us how it works.
38:32So the app will start alerting us to the fact that a police officer is nearby.
38:36Yeah.
38:37Yeah, it'll start alarming.
38:38You get a notification and it'll probably start beeping.
38:40We pull up outside a police station in Melbourne's inner suburbs and wait.
38:46I missed it.
38:48Taser detected.
38:49Oh!
38:50Axon taser detected.
38:52There's a net car right there.
38:54Oh yeah, there's a couple of police officers walking out right now and it's just buzzed.
38:59Yeah.
38:59Cars pulling in.
39:00So we're picking up quite a few.
39:01Another one there.
39:04We've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
39:12Ten tasers that were picked up in the last couple of minutes.
39:16Our investigations discovered Victoria Police did receive the hacker's email back in 2024.
39:23The issue was assessed internally with the risk found to be very real, especially for officers
39:31undercover, in tactical units, or who take their Axon devices home.
39:37We know police executives were told to act, but dismissed the advice.
39:44Victoria Police refused to confirm whether its officers have ever been directly told they
39:50can be tracked while wearing their Axon tasers and cameras.
39:54A spokesperson said it hasn't had any issues with unauthorised tracking of tasers or body-worn
40:01cameras over Bluetooth, and that it had gone to Axon for security advice.
40:09Four Corners went to all policing agencies about the floor, but they refused to confirm if any
40:15steps had been taken to protect the safety of their officers.
40:21Why wouldn't Axon just fix it?
40:24You would need to design a brand new device and basically replace probably most of their products
40:31with newly designed products that actually meet the specifications of Bluetooth.
40:36Buried within its website, Axon itself acknowledges the vulnerability to its Bluetooth products,
40:43warning operational security considerations should be made where detection may result in unintended outcomes.
40:53How embedded would you say that Axon is now with police?
40:58Oh, hugely. They're captured. There is...
41:01I cannot see a way in which police can separate their reliance.
41:10She's really known as Caring Claire, and she brought up eight children on her own,
41:16and always had a concern about other people.
41:19I mean, you know, she was our mum.
41:22I mean, she was the...
41:30I mean, she was the best mum in the world.
41:33And, you know, like, she was there for us every, every day.
41:39So, uh...
41:41TASERS were meant to be a safer way for police to stop dangerous situations
41:46without taking a life.
41:49But after more than two decades of use in Australia, people are still dying.
41:55And others are seriously affected when TASERS are used in situations
42:00they were never intended for.
42:06In Australia, not a single death has ever been solely attributed
42:11to the use of a TASER.
42:13But our examination of 18 deaths shows the role of the device
42:18is often contested and not clearly understood.
42:21I'm the first to admit TASER weapons aren't perfect,
42:25but TASER 10 is a hell of a step towards making TASER energy weapons
42:29the most reliable and effective force option in the world.
42:33Axon maintains its signature product saves lives
42:37and that its research supports that.
42:40But how that science is shaped
42:42and the company's influence during police investigations
42:46is far from transparent.
42:50TASER are the most researched weapon in history.
42:55But researched by the company, I suppose.
42:58No, by the media, by everyone.
42:59Most analysed, researched.
43:01And TASER are very focused on making sure
43:05decision-makers get all the information.
43:08For Clare Nowland's family,
43:10their hopeful and upcoming inquest may address key issues
43:14about TASER policies and training.
43:17Do you feel like you still want some kind of reassurance
43:21from New South Wales Police that this was a one-off cop,
43:25that this isn't going to happen with other officers as well?
43:27I mean, the only way that's going to happen is if they,
43:31number one, better training,
43:33and number two, change something in the policy.
43:37I'm sure that they have some really precious situations.
43:41They have to make that decision instantly, you know.
43:44This is completely different where, you know,
43:47there was no-one's life under threat at all, you know,
43:51and it still happened.
43:52The End
43:55The End
44:23Transcription by CastingWords
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