One Third of UK TASER Usage is by Non-Firearms Officers
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.
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