48 more Merseyside officers to carry Taser stun guns

Sep 1 2007 by Deborah James, Liverpool Daily Post

AN EXTRA 48 Merseyside police officers will carry controversial Taser stun guns under changes being introduced today.

The force is one of just 10 across the country where ordinary officers will be equipped with the high-voltage weapons.

Until now, only Merseyside police officers who carry guns after being fully trained in the use of firearms have been allowed to use Tasers.

The 12-month trial follows a relaxing of the rules to allow the weapons to be fired in a wider range of dangerous incidents than conventional guns.

It comes as the latest report issued by Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe to the Merseyside Police Authority revealed his officers had drawn their Tasers more than 24 times in three years, and had fired them three times to disable violent offenders. But the changes have been attacked by the human rights group Amnesty International, which described them as “the start of a slippery slope towards arming all officers”.

A spokeswoman said: “Tasers are potentially lethal weapons – they can kill. They must only be used by specially trained firearms officers who, at the moment, undergo a rigorous training. In addition, the UK police force has always prided itself on policing by consent, rather than by force. This could be the start of a slippery force towards arming all officers.”

The spokeswoman said that, in six years of use in the United States, more than 220 people had been killed after being shot with the stun guns.

She added: “In many cases, a coroner found the use of the Taser to be a direct cause of the death, particularly when used against vulnerable people such as children, the elderly and pregnant woman.”

Merseyside police declined to comment yesterday on the creation of a specialist team of officers to carry Tasers, separate from its fully-fledged firearms unit.

However, in the past, Bernard Hogan-Howe, Merseyside’s Chief Constable has called for every police officer on Merseyside’s streets to be issued with the stun guns.

He told members of the police authority the scheme was another “useful policing tool” for his officers.

Following an initial six-month trial of Tasers in 2005, Mr Hogan-Howe said they were a powerful deterrent, which meant the weapons did not have to be fired in anger.

In fact, official Home Office figures show that Merseyside officers have resorted to Tasers far more sparingly than some other big city forces since their introduction in late 2004.

The West Yorkshire force used Tasers 60 times, firing them on 20 occasions, and Northumbria 36 times, firing them on three occasions.

Even North Wales, where there is no big city, has seen the stun guns fired on 12 occasions, with officers from the force using them 47 times in total.

The Taser uses compressed gas to fire twin needle-tipped darts into a suspect, from up to six metres, with wires to transmit a 50,000-volt shock which temporarily immobilises all muscles.

Since July, police officers can use Tasers when they face violence, or threats of violence, instead of just circumstances when they could have used a conventional firearm.