On the 23rd of February 2009 Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Chris Huhne received an answer to his parliamentary question asking how many TASERs had been used against those under eighteen in the last two years.
The answer he received stated those under eighteen had been shocked thirty-eight (17+6+11+1) times over the period, with seventy-three threatened with a TASER either through the weapon simply being drawn or having the red dot placed on them or having the weapon arced infront of them.
Neither the question or the answer distinguished between the use of TASERs by firearms officers; and the trial running during that period involving non-firearms officers being armed with TASER. TASER use against children doubled in 2008 when compared to 2007, this increase may be linked to the trial deployment of TASER more widely.
Having received his answer, Mr Huhne published a statement in which he said:
Figures revealed in a Parliamentary answer show:
- Police in England and Wales fired 50,000 volt Taser guns at children 28 times between January 2007 and August 2008
- Tasers were used on under-18s 11 times in 2007 and 17 times in the first eight months of 2008
- If that rate were to continue, the use of Tasers on children would have doubled between 2007 and 2008
- A further 83 children were ‘exposed to the use of Taser’ in the 20-month period
- In total, 2,222 people were ‘exposed to the use of Taser’
It is surprising to see the Liberal Democrats discount the occurrences where children were shocked by the TASER prongs being applied directly to them in “drive-stun” mode; focusing instead on when projectiles were fired into a person and the shock administer via the wires.
Mr Huhne said:
“Given the grave doubts about the Home Office’s claim that Tasers are not lethal, they should not be used on children.
“Police officers must be able to protect themselves, but these weapons have killed more than 300 people in the United States and should not be issued to untrained officers.
“We need an in-depth inquiry into the use of Tasers before they become commonplace on British streets.
“We must not slide down a slippery slope towards fully-armed, US-style policing.”
I do not think it is practical to expect police to distinguish between a 17 and 19 year old when they encounter them. I would like to see TASER use limited to firearms officers to use as an alternative to a firearm, this would reduce the chance of all of us, adults and children, being shot with these weapons.
I think great caution should be attached to statements such as this from the Liberal Democrats, they are not a united party. Where I live in Cambridge we have a local Liberal Democrat member of the Police Authority but he has not yet got the expanded TASER deployment on the authority’s agenda. I will be asking him why, following this statement from Mr Huhne he is prepared to allow TASERs to be issued to non-firearms officers (all response officers) in Cambridgeshire prior to the in-depth inquiry Mr Huhne is calling for.
