CABA: the police will use Taser guns on the subway lines

The head of government Jorge Macri confirmed that City police officers will begin using Taser guns on subway lines. The same ones are low lethality weapons that allow a criminal to be neutralized without risk to the lives of others and will be used with the aim of improving security in a high-traffic place such as the subway, which transports 900 thousand passengers per day.

The announcement was made during a route of line Hwhich was attended by Macri and the Minister of City Security, Waldo Wolff. “The subway is a closed place and if there is a criminal it is very difficult for the police to use a firearm. The Taser allows us to act effectively, quickly, and reduce the criminal, without putting life at risk. neither from the police nor from any of the neighbors who are using the subway,” explained the head of government.

The Buenos Aires government announced the implementation of Taser weapons in the Subway

“We assume the commitment to deploy a greater presence of Taser weapons, which are low lethality, and the subway is a very busy place to use this technology”, explained the Head of Government this morning. After the announcement, Macri shared the news through his X account and assured: “We no longer waste time in ideological discussions“.

Tasers are Electronic Momentary Immobilization Devices that are used as an intermediate resource, to prevent officers from resorting to the use of firearms in highly crowded spaces. As detailed by the head of the Buenos Aires Government, this implementation is part of a program that begins in the Subway stations with the highest traffic and at the head of each lineto gradually increase until the end of the year.

Along these lines, Macri assured: “This is one more step to give security and order to this City, taking care of everyone. In principle it will be used in the busiest stations, but this will be dynamic. We will always be in a preventive attitude, attentive to the crime map, and being proactive”.

The Buenos Aires police have 90 Taser guns that are already being used on the streets and by the end of the year the City administration plans to buy another 100. A total of 235 officers are trained in the Higher Institute of Public Security to use them.

The announcement is part of the security plan of the Buenos Aires government which, already in September, had announced the incorporation of 500 Byrna pistolsalso low lethality weapons. Unlike electric Tasers, Byrna work with compressed air – they allow you to shoot a threat from 20 meters away – and are recommended to neutralize street attacks, as a prior step to using a firearm. There are already 385 troops ready to use them.

How Tasers work

These weapons fire probes that stick into the clothing or skin of the potential aggressor. Once activated, the munitions are fired at a speed of 175 km and have a range of 10 meters. Currently, Tasers are used in more than 107 countriessuch as the United States, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, the United Kingdom and Brazil, and Argentina begins to incorporate them as a resource in terms of Security.

Cable-guided darts generate a electric shock of 400 volts for 5 seconds with the ability to immobilize the body of the potential aggressor for one or two minutes. The discharge of the Taser causes the muscles of the body of the person receiving the contact of the darts to contract so that the person cannot move.

Each gun has five cartridges. The agents who use it will have a built-in body camera system with its corresponding mount that will be used to take images of the use of the Taser. This system It lights up when the weapon is drawn and allows monitoring of each use.

The images are subsequently downloaded through software that ensures the custody of the body cameras. These types of weapons are considered a suitable means for a intervention when the aggressor does not have a firearmbut a knife, a stick or a cut glass bottle or to deactivate potential suicides.