A Met Police Officer scuffles with a man in the aftermath of the Oxford Street Stabbing on 26th December 2011 while the officer is holding a drawn TASER (From 1:00 - 1:10 on the video):
This illustrates the dangers of trying to use TASER in a crowd control situation.The annual report of the Chicago (USA) Independent Police Review Authority was released on the 7th of December 2010. It reports that from June 2010 the Chicago Police Department expanded its TASER deployment so that the weapons were carried in every “beat car”.
The report describes how this has meant the review authority has had to reduce its level of oversight.
This move is analogous to a 2008 move by the UK’s independent police complaints commission which decided it too could not cope with investigating every TASER discharge and from then on required only instances where there had been complaints to be referred to them. Whereas in the UK all TASER complaints are currently reviewed by the IPCC (they may just dismiss them, or pass them back to the force for “local action”) in Chicago only complaints alleging misconduct, involving serious injury or death, a minor or a senior citizen are automatically reviewed.
The relevant section from the report states:
Under IPRA’s ordinance, it is required to investigate each time a CPD member discharges a Taser in a manner that could potentially strike an individual, regardless of whether misconduct is alleged. In the second quarter of 2010, CPD expanded its deployment of Tasers significantly, to allow for deployment in every beat car. As a result, the number of Taser discharge notices received by IPRA increased significantly.
Given IPRA’s limited resources, it was required to re-evaluate how it investigates these Taser discharges to focus its resources where they would be most beneficial. The resources required to investigate these discharges, multiplied by the increase in discharges, was overwhelming. Moroever, only a very small percentage of the Taser discharge notices resulted in a complaint of misconduct from the public or identification of a potential policy violation by IPRA. IPRA therefore adopted new procedures for Taser notifications designed to maximize IPRA’s resources by focusing on the Taser discharges warranting the most attention.
Under the new procedures, Taser discharges for which IPRA receives an allegation of misconduct, involving serious injury or death, a minor (17 and under) or a senior citizen (65 or older) will be referred automatically to an investigator. In all other situations, the documentation will be reviewed and if an IPRA employee identifies anything warranting further investigation there will be further investigation.
Source: Chicago Independent Police Review Authority Annual Report 2009-10.
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 | Drive-Stun | All Uses | |
| All Officers | 226 | 36 | 772 |
| Non-Firearms Officers | 62 | 6 | 250 |
| Percentage by Non-Firearms Officers | 27.4% | 16.7% | 32.4% |
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:
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
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