TASER.ORG.UK

A Press release from the Metropolitan Police Authority released on 27 Sep 07 states the MPA are putting their participation in the Taser expansion pilot (see
TASERs Issued to Non-Firearms Trained Police in the UK.)
on hold.

MPA members meeting senior officers today raised questions about operational need and public perception and asked for further detailed information before they would agree to the proposal.

Perhaps this will become a key issue in the London Mayoral Campaign?

Update: 5th October 2007:

Peter Smyth, the vice chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents police officers, has published a video response to the announcement.
In this response he states:

These guns are a less lethal option, they are a proper way of incapacitating dangerous and violent offenders and that would protect the public and Police officers from the risk of further harm. … I would ask the MPA to revisit this question and to allow the Met Police and the Home Office who have already agreed this is a good idea to be allowed to get on and do the job.

The BBC is Reporting : “Taser fired as three fight in pub” - 30 September 2007.

“A Taser electronic stun gun has been used by North Wales Police to break up a fight between three men in a pub.

Two officers at first used CS spray to try to stop the fight at the Black Horse in Penycae, Wrexham.”

The BBC news site does not yet state how the TASER was used, was it just brandished, arced, fired, or used to stun without firing the barbs?

The report states there were no injuries caused by the TASER.

North Wales Police have said they were arming 28 officers in rural areas with TASERs, with one of the main arguments being that backup might be a long time coming in rural areas. Is Penycae a rural area?

The article originally stated the North Wales Police Chief was “shot” by a TASER. He was not shot. His blog carries an explanation of what happened:

“For the purpose of the demonstration, one probe was attached to the Chief Constable’s left shoulder and the second probe was attached to his right ankle before the device was activated for a period of 1.5 seconds”

The BBC site said:

“The footage showed him being supported by two officers as he is shot in the back with a Taser by a third officer.”

It has now been corrected to “The footage showed him being supported by two officers as he is zapped with a Taser by a third officer.”, I had pointed out the mistake.

In the USA where TASERs are widely used in “law enforcement” they have reached the point where a questioner is TASERed at a meeting held for students to debate with their democratic representatives / candidates.

John Kerry, who did not intervene himself, has issued a statement of regret.

13/06/2007 - Call to arms resisted after fatal stabbing

Sgt Jon Capes, from Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s officer safety and training unit, stopped short of calling for officers to be armed more heavily than they already are.

“We are being out-gunned on the streets and every day an officer is shot, stabbed or threatened. What we need is an effective tool for those who carry guns and knives and, in the interim, that is a Taser.”
- Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust

26/04/2007 - Drunk mum’s shame after racist outburst

A member of the public uses a TASER gun in March Cambridgeshire and is prosecuted for having a TASER gun.

06/01/2007 Pulling trigger is last resort

In a recent incident in Peterborough officers went to a man’s house to arrest him for attempted murder and were forced to fire a taser charge to incapacitate him.

26/10/2006 Taser gun used on siege man

POLICE used a Taser stun gun to arrest a 33-year-old man who had barricaded himself in his house and held officers at bay for more than four hours.

30/11/2005 Stunning new weapon

Cambridge Evening News report on TASERs - In this article the weapons are called “nonlethal”, rather than the more usual and in my view more accurate “less-leathal”.

29/11/2005 Taser stun guns come in for force despite fear

Report written when firearms officers in Cambridgeshire were first issued with the weapons.