December 02, 2011

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TASER use by UK cops soars 130%

Commissioner: Police should be armed with TASERs

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By Jennifer Cockerell
Press Association Mediapoint

LONDON — The use of Tasers by police has increased by an average of 130%, it was reported tonight.

An investigation by Channel 4 News obtained figures from 40 of the 43 forces in England and Wales and found two-thirds of them had fired the weapon "significantly more" last year compared to the year before.

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Their findings revealed that these 40 forces collectively fired Tasers 1,533 times last year, compared with 862 times in 2009 — an increase of 70%. Across the 40 forces, average usage increased by 130%.

The findings, accessed through Freedom of Information requests, come after Scotland Yard Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe called for police response officers to be routinely armed with Taser weapons last week.

Mr Hogan-Howe argued that every Met police car should have a Taser in it following an incident in which four police officers were stabbed in a butcher's shop in north west London.

Sophie Khan, a Solicitor Advocate at GT Stewart, who represents clients who claim they have been unfairly Tasered by police, told the programme: "It is very much the officer thinking this is something new they can use and without any kind of risk of consequences calculation by that officer just deploying it because he can and that's the only thing he can do."

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