MPS use of Tasers

March 2009

"When the Home Office announced a pilot in 2007 to assess whether Tasers could be rolled out to non-firearms police officers, the MPA agreed to Met participation on the basis that an Authority oversight group monitored and evaluated progress.

“The Authority also made it clear that at the end of the pilot there should be sufficient time for evaluation before any decisions were taken about whether to confirm the pilot arrangements and any subsequent roll-out on a wider, more permanent basis. While the Home Office scientific branch published some analysis of use during the pilot, we await the results of a fuller evaluation of the pilot due to be published in May 2009.

“The MPA has not been advised by the Met that there is any urgent operational demand for extra Tasers. While acknowledging the useful flexibility the addition of Tasers to the police armoury affords, members of the Authority are also very conscious of their responsibility to reinforce the confidence of the public in the police. This could be affected by an uncalled for increase in the deployment of Tasers, which are still widely perceived as oppressive."

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback