The government bought 100 Tasers without a tender to take advantage of a “trading plan”: who will use them and in what cases

After the murder of the municipal police Maribel Salazar at the Retiro station of metro C, the Minister of Nation’s Security, Hannibal Fernandezsurprised by revealing that he was in negotiations for the acquisition of Tasers for Federal Forces Special Groups.

This is for 100 T7 model devices, with their corresponding AB3 kit, accessories, cartridges and licenses, for a total amount of $293,490which will be acquired over the counter, through the firm Axon Enterprise INC., as can be read in the resolution published in the Official Gazette on January 4 on the purchase process which began in October 2022 and n is not finished yet.

Ministry of Security sources said GlobeLiveMedia who have chosen to go by mutual agreement and not by invitation to tender, because they are trying to take advantage of a discount (of 123,500 USD) offered by the firm in exchange for the delivery of the lot that the management of Patricia Bullrich in 2019 of the X26P model via the same company. These devices fell into disuse after the change of government.

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It so happens that the action protocol approved by the management of Ensemble pour lechange was modified on March 31, 2021 by Sabine Fredericthe first Minister of Security from the direction of Alberto Fernández.

The macrismo’s idea was to use electroshock weapons in crowded places like airports, but the PRO president’s successor preferred that they remain in the hands of the elite groups of each federal force: Albatros Prefecture, Alacrán Gendarmerie, PSA and GE1 Tactical Groups, Federal Intervention Tactical Units and PFA GEOF.

To transport them, his troops must comply with the “Action Protocol for the Use of Low-Lethality Electronic Devices for Momentary Immobilization (DEIM)” in effect since then.

Meanwhile, the stun guns the ministry had purchased under Bullrich’s direction remained in the hands of the PFA. Sources of this force indicated that they had not used them because the model X26P they have a single cartridge, they don’t have a warning arc or a camera that could support the action that seeks to avoid fatalities.

Regarding their use, they explained that they will only be worn by officers of the special units that deal with hostage taking, kidnapping, suicide attempt and various operations.

“There are drug dealers who have big dogs who when we arrive attack us, if we have a taser we can avoid killing them with a knife and a gun,” they said. And they went further: “If a violent person situation is registered on the Miter train and there is a case authorized to carry a Taser, they can do it.”

From the environment of Hannibal Fernandez They indicated that Tasers are electronic weapons regulated and controlled by the Law on Weapons and Explosives (No. 20,429 of 1975) and Decrees No. 395/1975 and No. 1039/1989.

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“Their use and acquisition by the security forces and police in Argentina was politically defined in the 1980s, when they were incorporated into national arms control regulations, as controlled material. This is why the debate on the question is closed.since our government respects and complies with the national regulatory plexus and its international obligations,” they argued.

Purchase order 30-0005-OC23 (file EX-2022-117049221) was executed on February 15 and published on the website comprar.gob.ara day after the murder of Salazar, a crime that has revived the debate on this type of low-lethality weapon.

The discussion, which was highlighted by the Minister of Justice and Security of Buenos Aires Marcelo D´Alessandro under licence, revolved around the difficulty of bringing into the country a batch of 60 Taser X2 pistols purchased through the company Buccello SA

The purpose that the municipal police will assign to it will be quite different. The official foresees the creation of “Taser Squadsfor each municipality, which can be convened in situations that justify it and which can happen quickly, as in the case of the Juan Pablo Roldan, the PFA policeman assassinated in front of the MALBA. Metro stations, trains, buses and the microcentre are the most sensitive places for this administration.

According to D’Alessandro, ANMAC stop the process started in 2019 because it does not allow importing. According to sources of this organization, which depends on the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of the Nation, the company has not provided the relevant documentation.

The subject generated a strong cross between Bullrich and chief of staff to Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, Philip Michel, that agitated PRO interns months before the elections.

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