The Police Ombudsman has found that police were justified in using a Taser to help foil an armed robbery in west Belfast in April 2009.
The incident happened in the Northumberland Street area on 2 April, as police mounted an operation to prevent an anticipated robbery at a Northern Bank in the Twin Spires complex.
Officers deployed as part of the operation were instructed to stop a black Volkswagen Golf containing two suspects, who were believed to have access to firearms. A third suspect was at nearby shops.
At around 1110 hours a police vehicle parked behind the Volkswagen and plain clothes officers got out and approached. One of the officers noticed a man lying across the back seat with his hands out of view and ordered him to sit up straight and put his hands up.
The man sat up but kept his hands in the footwell. An officer then broke a side window of the car and another officer (Officer A) approached shouting "Taser, Taser, Taser" before firing the weapon at the suspect.
Despite this, the man continued to ignore police commands and was still hunched over with his hands in the footwell area. Realising that the Taser had had no real effect on the suspect, Officer A then applied the Taser directly to the man's neck, which resulted in him complying with police instructions. It was at this point that Officer A noticed a shotgun on the floor in the front passenger footwell of the Volkswagen.
As is standard procedure following any discharge of a firearm by police, the PSNI informed the Police Ombudsman's On call Senior Investigation Officer, who began an immediate investigation into the circumstances.
Statements were recorded from officers who had been at the scene, and each confirmed that they had been briefed that those involved in the anticipated robbery were likely to be armed. They also confirmed that the man in the rear of the Volkswagen had ignored police orders to show his hands, and that a sawn-off shotgun had then been found in the vehicle.
Enquiries in the local area also identified 17 civilian witnesses who confirmed that officers had identified themselves as police and shouted warnings to the suspects. No civilians had witnessed the discharge of the Taser, however.
Further enquiries revealed that Officer A was trained in the use of Taser and had lawful authority to carry the weapon at the time of the incident.
Having reviewed the evidence, the Police Ombudsman, Mr Al Hutchinson, concluded that the use of Taser was justified and proportionate. He said its use had undoubtedly contributed to the prevention of a bank robbery and had minimised the threat posed by the armed gang to people in the vicinity.
During their enquiries, Police Ombudsman investigators also examined police custody records and established that the man who had been the subject of the Taser discharge was checked at 30 minute intervals during the first night of his detention. These checks became less frequent over the course of the next two nights in custody.
Mr Hutchinson noted that this was in line with PSNI guidelines for aftercare following Taser discharges, which were similar to the recommended aftercare procedures for prisoners admitted to custody under the effects of drugs or alcohol.
However, while the guidelines for cases involving alcohol or drugs were clear about how supervision could be reduced over time, the guidelines for Taser discharges did not identify the specific risk factors which should be assessed by custody staff in those cases.
"As a result the assessments, medical checks and observations of persons in police detention after being subject to a Taser discharge may be inadequate," said Mr Hutchinson.
He recommended that the PSNI implement measures to address these issues, and the PSNI have since advised that they have acted upon those recommendations.
The three men arrested during the police operation on 2 April 2009 were convicted of various criminal charges related to the incident in March 2011.