Minister rejects extended use of stun guns
The controversial Taser stun gun is a “dangerous weapon” which should not yet be issued to all frontline police officers, home office minister Hazel Blears has said.
Her comments follow a recent survey by the Police Federation, which claims that 80 per cent of its members are in favour of rolling out the use of the stun guns.
But Ms Blears said the Tasers, which deliver a 50,000-volt disabling electric shock, were unsuitable for use “everyday circumstances”.
Currently, authorised firearms officers are the only personnel permitted to use the weapons.
Ms Blears said such officers were “trained in split second judgments” and that providing all officers with “an array of weapons” would undermine relations between the police and the public.
“Taser is quite a dangerous weapon. It is a less lethal option other than firearms, but it is not an everyday weapon used in everyday circumstances,” she told Police Review.
“My feeling at the moment is that it is substantially different from handcuffs and a truncheon, and I would not want to see everyone on the streets having that kind of weapon.”
The minister said that while she wanted to ensure that officers had sufficient protective equipment to assist them in apprehending violent individuals, she was “not convinced that every single police officer on a neighbourhood team should be equipped with a Taser”.
Criticising Ms Blear’s refusal to permit the extended use of the stun guns, Police Federation vice chairman Alan Gordon said: “Officers face dangers on a daily basis that require more than a pair of handcuffs and a truncheon.
“To that extent we have long argued that Tasers should be extended beyond firearms officers.”
