1. Police cells
Using a taser in a psychiatric clinic
In November 2015, a patient died at a psychiatric clinic in Olomouc during police intervention where a
Taser was used; the police were called in by the medical staff to help restrain the patient who was behaving dangerously due a psychotic seizure. Taser is an electrical discharge weapon and, as such, presents a
risk of unintended, dangerous, and sometimes even lethal effects; the risk corresponds to the context of
the weapon’s use and the target person’s vulnerability (stress, health problems, drugs that could contribute
to cardiac arrhythmia, etc.). Taser also causes serious pain to the victim.
The Defender inquired into the case due to its extraordinary circumstances, focusing not only on the necessity of the use of force (she found no errors in the procedure). The Defender also made a systemic
assessment of the use of electrical discharge weapons by the police and the protection of people with
mental disorders against infringements of their right to life and the right not to be subjected to ill-treatment (errors were found).
The tragic event led to a number of systemic measures being adopted by the police. For example, police
officers received clear instructions that a taser could only be used as a last resort before using a firearm;
the training of police officers (e.g. concerning the risk of positional asphyxia and death when lying on a
person in prone position, and the health risks associated with the use of a taser) and evaluation of the
individual interventions was improved.
Some shortcomings remain even though the Defender contacted the Ministry of the Interior after talks
with the Police Presidium. For example, stress resistance and faculty of discernment are not assessed as
criteria for arming police officers with tasers and the data from the devices are not automatically available
to superiors for evaluation. Police officers also receive no training for dealing with people with mental
disorders (i.e. taking into consideration the effectiveness, discretion and safety of measures during arrest,
methods of conflict management, co-ordination with medical staff). The Ministry of Health has so far
been unwilling to monitor the use of force in psychiatric facilities and to issue methodological guidelines
for co-operation between medical staff and the police.
The General Inspectorate of Security Forces investigated the incident. When the case was set aside, the
family of the deceased filed a lawsuit. The Defender presented her opinion in the Constitutional Court
proceedings as amicus curiae. The Court dismissed the constitutional complaint ( judgment of 21 November 2017 in case File No. IV. ÚS 4150/16) and the relatives of the victim lodged an application with the
European Court of Human Rights.
Final statement and Penalty Letter with the authorities’ responses
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