Right: A diagram on the operation and workings of a taser gun.
Arguments suggesting Victoria Police officers did not act appropriately
1. Tyler Cassidy was a minorThere has been significant concern at Tyler Cassidy's youth. Critics of the police shooting note that the boy's young age should have encouraged the police to treat him with leniency on a number of grounds.
Firstly there is the supposition that Tyler Cassidy's youth made him less of a threat. A friend of the family noted, 'He is a little bloke, just a kid.'
Tyler Cassidy's mother, Shani Cassidy, has specifically claimed that her son was too young and small to pose a real threat to four armed police officers. Mrs Cassidy has stated, 'He was only 5 foot 7 inches, [1.7 metres] he weighed only 58 kilograms and 10 bullets were fired at him. His life was taken from him unnecessarily and prematurely.'
One of the patrons of the hotel where Tyler Cassidy worked part-time as a kitchen hand has noted, 'He was just a young fellow, just a kid, I used to say hello...Why would the police shoot a 15-year-old? I mean he looked 15, you couldn't mistake he was a teenager.'
A family friend has also indicated that she believes the police over-reacted given the extent of the threat Tyler Cassidy posed. She stated, 'I just can't believe there was four of them to one of him and they killed a 15-year-old boy.'
Secondly, Mrs Cassidy indicated that she had contacted the police because she wanted her young son protected. She had not believed that the police would take his life.
Mrs Cassidy stated, 'I had faith that the system would protect him from harm. That system failed him.'
The Cassidy family issued a statement after Tyler's death, which included the following remarks. 'The entire family and friends of Tyler Cassidy are appalled at the actions by Victoria Police last night. Their heavy handedness and lack of negotiating skills at the scene of the shooting contributed to the untimely death of our beautiful 15-year-old.'
2. Tyler Cassidy did not have a history of violence
It has been claimed that Tyler Cassidy had no history of drug abuse, was not generally regarded as violent and had been in trouble with the law only once. Other than an assault charge, Tyler Cassidy had no significant criminal history.
This point has been made by Tyler Cassidy's mother who has stressed the youth and good nature of her son and disputed claims that he was a member of a racist group, Southern Cross Soldiers. Mrs Cassidy has stated, 'He was a 15-year-old school boy. His views were still developing. He attended a multicultural school and many of Tyler's friends have come to my house in tears.'
A family friend, Amelia Sakellaropoulos, 14, said Tyler Cassidy was an outgoing person who made everyone laugh but had suffered the loss of his father two or three years ago. The anniversary of Tyler's father's death was the week before he was shot.
Amelia Sakellaropoulos further stated, 'It was the anniversary of his father's death about a week ago ... I don't know, he sort of kept it in more but (he was) never upset around me.'
Another family friend note d, ' The kid's been through a lot. His old man had died of cancer ... He was the gentlest kid ever. He would just break down ever now and again when he couldn't handle it all.'
Rowena Bailey, manager of The Island, a vocational campus of Collingwood College where Tyler Cassidy had been studying, told AAP, 'Tyler was a lovely young man. He came to us about six weeks ago. He was achieving enormous success. He was in our hospitality unit and doing very well, he showed great promise and was doing extremely well.
Tyler had many friends and was an easygoing boy.
It's a terrible shock because he was achieving. He was very well liked. He was an easygoing boy, in our environment, very easygoing, and he was very happy. He had a lot of friends and he was very happy.'
3. The Victoria Police did not appear to pursue all options available
There are a number of specialist groups within the Victoria Police who are trained and equipped to deal with especially challenging situations, such as mentally unstable people armed with knives.
Victoria Police have Critical Incident Response Teams (CIRTs). CIRTs respond to incidents for which the general duties police are not trained or equipped to deal with, such as offenders armed with knives or potential suicides and 'suspect parcels'.
CIRT also respond to incidents including hostage situations, violent prisoner control or transfer, suspicious substance attacks.
In high risk situations CIRT response is to cordon and contain an area until the arrival of the Victoria Police Special Operations Group. CIRT officers have a range of specialised equipment and weapons in their inventory ranging from ballistic and tactical vests, shotguns, tasers, bean bag rounds and various OC (pepper spray) delivery systems.
Tyler Cassidy would appear to have been a young man for whom a CIRT response would have been appropriate. It does not appear that any attempt was made to summon a Critical Incident Response Team despite the fact that the police knew they were going to have to deal with an agitated young man armed with more than one knife.
4. There may be a climate of aggression among Victoria Police officers
It has been suggested that Victoria Police no longer take sufficient care to avoid a violent response to emergency situations.
The Office of Police Integrity (OPI) is an independent body charged with overseeing Victoria Police. The OPI issued a 2005 report that raised concerns about Victoria Police's ongoing commitment to the implementation of its 'safety first' strategy, which arose out of Operation Beacon. This approach states that 'the success of an operation will be primarily judged on the extent to which the use of force is avoided or minimised'.
The OPI report is concerned that this non-violent approach is being forgotten. It warned three years ago of 'a gradual shift in attention since the implementation of Project Beacon (that) could allow the re-emergence of a culture among police which is overly reliant on firearms'.
The Herald Sun published an exclusive report in December 2008, commenting on a Police Victoria recruitment video which appears to use aggression and violent encounters as an inducement to officers to work in particularly challenging station. The Herald Sun report states, 'A Victoria Police video is using images of violent clashes with drunks and a confrontation with soccer hooligans to recruit officers to work in a city station.
The internal "BlueTube" film, seen by the Herald Sun, suggests suburban police sit around yawning, longing for action in the city.'
Critics have suggested such images simply encourages the police to respond violently, rather than seek other means of containing threatening situations.
5. Victoria Police officers are not adequately trained to deal with such emergencies
It has been suggested that the death of Tyler Cassidy indicates that Victoria Police are not properly trained to deal with such emergencies. In particular it has been noted that police are inadequately trained in containment procedures. By this is meant that the police do not know how to close off a potentially dangerous person until specialist help can be got. It has also been claimed that some of the actions the police take, such as using capsicum spray, may actually make an agitated or mentally unstable person more dangerous.
Colleen Lewis, associate professor in the criminal justice department, Monash University, has stated. 'Training programs should ... be designed to better equip officers with the skills needed to undertake an initial risk assessment followed by a planned response; outline how to apply more effectively "operations safety principles", particularly those related to cordon and containment; and how to avoid inappropriate responses to incidents involving knives and other edged weapons.
Training also needs to include tactics for overcoming a tendency to use capsicum spray in inappropriate situations and the introduction of courses to greatly improve police officers' understanding of the symptoms of mental illness or disorder and how to respond to them.'
Similar points were made in relation to Australian police generally in an editorial published in The Canberra Times on December 14, 2008. The editorial states, 'The efficacy of "police procedures" has failed in similar incidents across the country. In our own city, for example, a man having a psychotic episode and wielding a bamboo stake in the quiet suburb of Chapman was shot by a police officer and left a quadriplegic. He is now suing the federal and ACT governments.
More broadly, research by the Office of Police Integrity in 2005 revealed an increase in the reliance on firearms by police. Clearly, more needs to be done to help police deal with unstable, emotional, violent or mentally ill suspects.
Calls for an extensive review of police training techniques should not fall on deaf ears...
There is a much bigger picture to be viewed from Tyler Cassidy's death. One can only hope the investigation into the shooting will force a broader review of the avenues available to police when dealing with unpredictable assailants.
As Tyler's mother, Shani Cassidy, said in a statement last night: "I had faith that the system would protect him from harm. That system failed him."'
In a statement Tyler Cassidy's family issued after his death, they stated, 'It should have been dealt with differently and more compassionately, but tragically resulted in Tyler's death that should have been avoided.'