NSW Ombudsman Taser Report

NSW police need to overhaul their use of Tasers after numerous incidents of brutality, misuse and two deaths involving the weapons in the past two years, an ombudsman's report says.

NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour tabled his report - How are Taser weapons used by the NSW Police Force? - in state parliament on Tuesday.

The report reviewed 556 incidents between June 2010 and November 2010 and found the devices were used inappropriately on 80 occasions.

In 27 cases, police were not under serious threat and should not have fired the weapon at all.

Police tasered people who were handcuffed or fleeing, and in some cases victims were tasered repeatedly - actions that Mr Barbour said should be outlawed.

The report makes 46 recommendations about how police should use a Taser and how they should improve Taser training for general duties officers.

"(Taser) can present significant safety and medical risks, and there is a justifiable public concern about the potential for unsafe and inappropriate use," Mr Barbour states in the report.

A recent coronial inquest into the death of Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti, which was not considered in the ombudsman's report, heard the young Brazilian struggled with 11 officers who fired their Tasers up to 14 times.

Some of those instances were drive-stuns, a practice Mr Barbour also condemned.

Such usage involves applying the Taser directly to the skin, as opposed to discharging the barbs from a distance.

NSW Greens MP and justice spokesman David Shoebridge said it was "remarkable" the ombudsman's report had failed to consider the evidence given at the Curti inquest, which wrapped up hearings on Friday.

"One of the clear options for limiting Taser use by police is to withdraw them from general duties officers and limit them to specially trained squads," Mr Shoebridge said in a statement.

Mr Curti's family issued a statement in response to the ombudsman's report.

"The family said many of the recommendations related to the way in which Taser (sic) was used on the night Roberto died," Mr Curti's brother-in-law Michael Reynolds said.

"The family feels that several of the ombudsman's recommendations are a step in the right direction."