The adoption of the Taser by law enforcement is gaining ground in Switzerland. This Friday, the Vaud police indicate that they will carry out a pilot phase aimed at equipping forty field gendarmes with an electric pulse gun from the month of June. The test will last six months, and if it is successful, the deployment of Taser will be expanded.
In French-speaking Switzerland, the Jura police were the first to introduce these weapons into their arsenal, in 2023. In one year, they fired 8 times, and drew them 7 other times without having to administer a discharge. Because it is also for its deterrent effect that the device is increasingly adopted. The Vaud police point out that it “can represent a means of constraint and de-escalation which makes it possible to avoid the use of firearms”. The police consider it less invasive than the baton.
But the use of this device by the police is divisive. In German-speaking Switzerland, Zurich, Bern and Basel-City have been using it for several years. In the canton of Vaud, only the special DARD units had them until now, as well as in Geneva. In Valais, Ticino and Neuchâtel, the cantons refused to do so, but certain municipal police forces have nevertheless adopted them, such as in Visp and Brig (VS). In Lausanne, on the other hand, the municipal council rejected this idea again last fall.
If the Taser is frightening, it is because its use has sometimes led to the death of certain people, particularly in the United States, without a formal direct link necessarily being established. “There is no study today which would prove that this weapon is non-lethal on people who suffer from heart problems,” explained a socialist elected official from Lausanne.
The Taser is a means of momentary neutralization which transmits an electrical impulse to the person to be subdued. The electrical signal sent acts on the muscular and sensory nervous system. It induces the temporary contraction of the muscles of the affected person, thus leading to the neutralization of any voluntary action on their part. The new model which will equip the Vaudois gendarmes has a maximum range of almost 14 meters.
