TASER.ORG.UK

The Home Office publishes quarterly TASER usage statistics for the UK police. Every quarter they publish the cumulative total usage figures so to obtain the statistics for the last quarter you have to subtract the last set of figures from the current ones.

My subtraction revealed the following figures for January - March 2009 (the latest figures available):

Discharges are where the weapon is fired and an electric shock applied from a distance. Drive-Stun is where the police hold the weapon against you and shock you. “All Uses” includes merely drawing the weapon as a warning.

This is only the second set of statistics released showing the usage of TASER by non-firearms officers in the UK and already we’re seeing almost 1/3 of TASER usage being by non-firearms officers.

This statistic concerns me greatly. I am happy for firearms officers to have TASERs to use as a less lethal alternative to a gun, but do not want to see all response police armed with the weapons. Before September 2007 only Firearms officers were armed with TASER in the UK, 0% of TASER use was by other, less experienced and less highly trained officers. Now almost a third of TASER use is by normal police officers who have had a few hours training with the weapons. If the current Government fulfil achieve their aims then almost all TASER use will be by non-firearms officers as they intend to arm all response police with the weapons.

These latest statistics also reveal a particularly significant increase in TASER Discharges by non-firearms officers in Northumbria, with 31 discharges by non-firearms officers there in the first quarter of 2009.

Raw Source:

• Statistics to Dec 08
• Statistics to Mar 09

The Guardian has reported that UK Police may be issued with new high-power Taser. And article in the Register has reported a Home Office spokesman has having said: “The Home Office Scientific Development Branch are considering it as part of their ongoing remit to evaluate new less lethal technologies.”

The TASER website describes the new weapon:

The TASER® XREP™ is a self-contained, wireless electronic control device (ECD), that deploys from a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. It delivers a similar Neuro Muscular Incapacitation (NMI) bio-effect as our handheld TASER® X26™ ECD, but can be delivered to a maximum effective range of 100 feet (30.48 meters), combining blunt impact force. The battery supply is fully integrated into the chassis and provides the power to drive the XREP projectile engine.

…

On impact, the forward facing barbed electrodes attach to the body of the target. The energy from the impact breaks a series of fracture pins that release the main chassis of the XREP projectile which remains connected to the nose by a nonconductive tether. The XREP projectile autonomously generates NMI for 20 continuous seconds. As the chassis falls away, six Cholla electrodes automatically deploy to deliver the NMI effect over a greater body mass.

A promotional video for the new weapon can be seen TASER Inc’s website

It is being reported that South Wales Police is to be investigated after a man alleged its officers assaulted him and fired a Taser stun gun at his head as he was arrested.

The IPCC currently require all complaints about TASER discharges to be referred to them and they have indicated they are likely to investigate instances where the TASER has been applied to the head or neck.

Current guidance from ACPO Limited (the unaccountable private company which effectively sets policing policy in the UK) states:

the Taser should not be aimed so as to strike the head or neck of a subject unless this is wholly unavoidable.

See also: Police accused of firing Taser into head of innocent man - December 2007

An article in the Mirror today headlined Police reveal stun gun blunders revealed UK police have accidently discharged their weapons eight times.

These incidents had occurred while the weapons have been largely restricted to highly trained firearms officers, the number of such incidents will surely increase as TASERs are rolled out to more non-firearms officers. One thing this report does is draw attention to the fact that a massive increase in TASER use is imminent and the intention is to arm all response police officers in the country with the weapons.

As the weapons record every discharge electronically the reason we know about these accidents is due to officers being required to explain the circumstances surrounding every time they use the weapons. We do not know if these were accidental firings, or simply discharges, or if they occurred during incidents, in training or elsewhere.

I am concerned that an increased use of TASER will inevitably lead to excessive force being used on a greater number of occasions.

More officers carrying and using TASER will create a bigger barrier between the police and public, change the nature of the country and make it harder to police.