AAP
The NSW Ombudsman wants the repeated Taser use on fleeing suspects outlawed and says the device should be deployed only when officers are in danger of serious actual bodily harm.
His recommendations follow the death of a Brazilian student in Sydney's CBD after he was chased and caught by police in March.
An inquest into the death of Roberto Laudisio Curti was told he struggled with 11 officers who fired their Tasers up to 14 times.
Ombudsman Bruce Barbour tabled his second report into Taser use by the NSW police in state parliament on Tuesday.
It makes 46 recommendations about how police should administer a Taser and how they should enhance Taser training for general-duties officers.
"A Taser should never be used to drive-stun a person, or discharged at a person who is fleeing police or who is in handcuffs unless there are exceptional circumstances," the report states.
Drive-stunning is when the Taser is applied directly to the skin, as opposed to discharging the barbs from a distance.
The report also says a Taser should never be applied to someone for more than 15 seconds in total.
Two weeks of public hearings into Mr Curti's death by the NSW Coroner concluded on Friday, with Coroner Mary Jerram expected to deliver her findings on November 14.
The Ombudsman's report was, in part, a response to the criticism of police who apprehended Mr Curti, who suffered an adverse reaction after taking a small amount of LSD the night before his death.
The report covered 556 individual Taser incidents between June 2010 and November 2010. It was found the devices were appropriately used in 476 of the incidents.
It said in 27 incidents police should not have fired the weapon.
In the remaining 53 incidents, an officer aimed a Taser at a subject but did not fire.
"Whilst we only identified a small number of misuses, it is unacceptable to see situations where Taser use failed to comply with police procedures and was unreasonable," Mr Barbour said in the report.
Inappropriate use included tasering a person on a busy street when there was no evidence of imminent or actual violence.
In another situation, an officer discharged the weapon on a person who was on their knees with their hands behind their head.
Officers also used a Taser on a man who attempted to hang himself while in police custody.
He fell heavily onto a hard surface and was tasered a second time for not being compliant.
"An officer must be in danger of serious actual bodily harm (not just in danger of any level or type of injury) to discharge a Taser," the Ombudsman's report states.
It also recommends improving police Taser training and the internal process for reviewing Taser use.
NSW Police Minister Michael Gallacher on Tuesday acknowledged the increase in Taser incidents cited in the Ombudman's report.
He said the issuing of Tasers to general-duties officers would explain the jump.
Between May 2002 and December 2007 only specialist police officers were issued with Tasers, resulting in 48 incidents.
"If you start to roll them out and make them more readily available, they (incidents) will become greater in number," Mr Gallacher told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
Mr Gallacher and Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione are expected to comment on the Ombudsman's report later on Tuesday.
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