Explore the latest developments concerning A hacker built.
A hacker built a tool to track police officers. Then he tried to warn them
This hacker realised tech giant Axon's devices expose officers' locations. (Four Corners: Sissy Reyes)
Each one is another police officer detected; his screen details their exact coordinates.
This isn't hi-tech spy craft; it's an app available on app stores.
Bluetooth-enabled tasers and body-worn cameras, used by thousands of Australian police officers, can inadvertently reveal their real-time location to any criminal with a phone or laptop.
Police services around the country have been warned of the security flaw. But despite the safety risks, especially to officers who are undercover, in tactical units or who take their equipment home, none appear to have acted.
FOUR CORNERS exposes rising taser deaths in Australia
ABC’s flagship current affairs program Four Corners is set to air a confronting investigation tonight, examining the growing use of tasers by police forces across the country and the deaths that have followed.
Police agencies have adopted tasers over the past two decades, promoting the devices as a safer alternative in dangerous situations where lethal force might otherwise be used. However, the program reports that fatalities continue to occur.
This week’s episode, titled Taser Tactics, explores the processes behind investigations into controversial deaths and scrutinises the involvement of the device manufacturer, Axon.
Reported by Grace Tobin from the ABC’s investigative reporting team, the program includes an interview with the family of Clare Nowland, a 95-year-old woman who died after being tasered in a nursing home in 2023. It also features footage of a farmer being tasered shortly after a police encounter on private property.
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Family Seeks Change Following Inquest into Clare Nowland’s Death
The family of 95-year-old Clare Nowland, who died after being tasered by police, is hopeful that an upcoming inquest will lead to significant changes in police training and policy. According to ABC News, Mick Nowland, Clare’s eldest son, is determined to ensure that no other family experiences a similar tragedy.
Clare Nowland was a resident at the Yallambee Lodge aged care facility in Cooma, New South Wales, when she was tasered by Senior Constable Kristian White in May 2023. Nowland was holding a steak knife against her walker when police arrived. After being tasered, she fell and suffered a fatal brain injury. White was convicted of manslaughter but did not serve jail time, a decision that has left her family questioning accountability within the police force.
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