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<\/a><\/p>\nJacqui Smith\u2019s announcement that 10,000 of the weapons are to be supplied to 43 forces in England and Wales suffered an immediate blow when the Metropolitan Police Authority said it had no intention sanctioning their wider deployment in London.<\/p>\n
The move by the Authority, which oversees the Metropolitan Police, cames as Amnesty International warned of the danger that officers would start using Tasers on a routine basis.
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\nAfter trials in which front line officers in ten forces have used the Taser gun, Ms Smith said that \u00a38m is to be spent on supplying 10,000 weapons to all forces. At present, only specialist firearms officers carry the guns – but this will now be extended to an estimated 30,000 front line officers who have been trained to use the weapon.
\nTasers, which are manufactured in the United States, deliver powerful electric shocks up to 10 metres away, leaving targets incapacitated and easier to arrest.<\/p>\n
Officers shoot two barbed darts trailing wires from a special gun, which then deliver the electric shot of about 50,000 volts.<\/p>\n
Within hours of Ms Smith making the announcement, the Metropolitan Police Authority warned that allowing Tasers to be used by non-specialist firearms officers had the potential to cause \u201cfear\u201d and \u201cdamage public confidence\u201d in the police.<\/p>\n
The Authority said it had no intention of sanctioning an increase in the availability of Tasers in London.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Authority said it would not take up the offer of funding immediately because of the potential of Tasers to cause \u201cfear\u201d and \u201cdamage public confidence\u201d in the police.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe MPA has no intention of immediately sanctioning any increase in the availability of Tasers to officers in the Met.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current arrangements in the Met are that only trained and supervised specialist officers may deploy Tasers, and were introduced after an extensive consultation and communication programme with London\u2019s communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Home Secretary said the police needed tools to protect themselves and the public, but critics warned of the danger that officers would start using Tasers on a routine basis.
\nShe said: \u201cI am proud that we have one of the few police services around the world that do not regularly carry firearms and I want to keep it that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut every day the police put themselves in danger to protect us, the public. They deserve our support, so I want to give the police the tools they tell me they need to confront dangerous people.”<\/p>\n
Oliver Sprague, Amnesty International\u2019s UK\u2019s arms programme director, said the use of the guns should be restricted to \u201clife threatening\u201d or \u201cvery dangerous\u201d situations.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cAmnesty recognises the very difficult job police officers have to do and we don\u2019t actually oppose the use of Tasers as long as it\u2019s by a limited number of highly-trained specialist officers, responding to genuinely life-threatening or very dangerous situations.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Home Office trial with 10 forces found the threat of being Tasered was often enough to stop a violent incident.<\/p>\n
Although Tasers were deployed by forces on more than 600 occasions in the past year, they were only used 93 times, the Home Office said.<\/p>\n
The decision to purchase the guns was welcomed by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), which said trials showed in the majority of cases that Tasers helped police resolve incidents without resorting to other weapons.<\/p>\n
Derek Talbot, ACPO spokesman on Tasers and Assistant Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police, said: \u201cThis reinforces the value of Taser as a useful tool to make the public and officers safer and to resolve potentially violent situations effectively and rapidly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conclusions of this trial provide further evidence that Taser is a proportionate, low risk means of resolving incidents where the public or officers face severe violence or the threat of such violence which cannot safely be dealt with by other means,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, released yesterday, said that 35 complaints had been made against the use of Tasers since they were introduced in September 2004.<\/p>\n
Of the 15 most serious investigated by the IPCC, the majority concerned the use of the weapons in the \u201cdrive-stun\u201d mode, where the gun is fired at point-blank range.<\/p>\n
The sharp barbs which carry the electric shock were fired directly at the head, chest, neck and shoulder blades of suspects, the report found.<\/p>\n
Police guidance suggests Tasers should not be used in drive-stun mode against the head or neck unless \u201cabsolutely necessary\u201d to save lives because of the \u201cincreased risk\u201d of injury, the report said.<\/p>\n
The police watchdog received a complaint from a man who had a Taser fired at his head from point-blank range, who said it caused him to suffer from amnesia.<\/p>\n
Suspects have had to go to hospital to have barbs removed from their skin – one from his back and another his thumb.<\/p>\n
In 2005, Hazel Blears, who is now Communities and Local Government Secretary, expressed reservations about the increased use of Tasers.<\/p>\n
She said she would not want to see the guns issued to every officer and rejected the idea of their use as an \u201ceveryday weapon\u201d.<\/p>\n
She told Police Review: \u201cTaser 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 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.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nAnother Taser story… I hope they simply admit one day it’s friggin’ … ” sHoCkINg ”<\/p>\n
source:: timesonline.co.uk<\/a>
\n© copyright::2008 Times Newspapers Ltd.<\/p>\n