Letters | Tasers and net guns for Hong Kong police? Bad idea

Hong Kong protests

Letters

Published: 6:15am, 28 Jan 2020

Why you can trust SCMP

I am writing in response to “Hong Kong police consider arming officers with electroshock devices and net guns amid protests” (January 15). I wonder why our secretary for security, John Lee Ka-chiu, would support the proposal.

For starters, the wisdom of frittering away our fiscal reserves on more weapons seems questionable. How many more billions can Hong Kong afford to waste, given the need to help the nearly 1.4 million living in poverty and support an ageing population?

The Hong Kong Police Force is already equipped with world-class weapons including pepper spray, pepper balls, beanbag rounds, sponge grenades, rubber bullets, tear gas – the list just goes on. I don’t believe anyone would say police lack the equipment to handle so-called brutal protesters. So why spend more public money on new weapons?

Moreover, a purchase of weapons would only give citizens and protesters alike more reason to hate the police force. I sincerely believe that one of the main reasons people have come to dislike law-enforcement officers is the degree of authority they have been granted.

The police force is already being criticised for overreacting to large protests and using excessive force. If officers are given more weapons to use in protests, I cannot imagine the levels of public backlash it will unleash.

Some may argue that electroshock devices and net guns are less likely to cause casualties than the police force’s existing arsenal, and therefore safer. At first glance, such arguments seem to hold some water.

However, Reuters has counted at least 1,081 deaths following taser use in the United States since the 2000s. That is over 50 cases a year. Meanwhile, an officer who tries to catch several people with one shot of a net gun might ensnare innocent bystanders, and end up causing a stampede. In effect, both weapons could harm public safety.

I hope the government will make the right decision and fix the city’s problems without resorting to inappropriate force for one more day.

Jeff Poon, Shek Kip Mei

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