Central Government must pay for Taser uplift

9 January 2020

THE Government must do more to fund Taser to keep officers and the public safe, Essex Police Federation has said.

The Home Office announced an extra £10 million in September, ring fenced for a Taser uplift across forces. But this has not gone far enough, according to Essex Police Federation Chairman Steve Taylor.

He said: “The service needs more and it needs to be centrally funded. It shouldn’t be about what the police force can afford. I think that the evidence to support Tasers being part of an officer’s personal protective equipment, to my mind has been made clear. It is a step that I’d like to see us take in line with personal protective equipment, and therefore every officer should have it.

“There are some hurdles to achieving that, not least of which the cost locally, which is why the cost should be centralised, and it should be incorporated into the way the police force is funded from the centre so that we can all have it on an equal basis.

“There are officers in Essex that would rather have Tasers. There are officers that want to take a Taser and are currently prohibited because of those administrative rules around CBD [colour-blindness].

“There’s definitely an appetite for more Taser. Yes, there are some colleagues that don’t want one and there are some colleagues that don’t want it to be part of personal protective equipment. But by and large the majority do, and in my view that should be the direction of travel at best.”

The Police Federation of England and Wales has been carrying out work to change the rules prevent officers with CBD from carrying Taser.

Steve added: “We need to change the way colour blindness is dealt with when it comes to those authorised to carry a Taser.”