Police Federation of England and Wales responds to a review of 101 independent investigations which involved a Taser being used by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
National Vice Chair Ché Donald said: “We are pleased the IOPC Director General recognises Taser is a valuable tool which helps keep police officers and the public safe.
National Vice Chair Ché Donald
“Taser is deployed based on highly complex and difficult assessments of threat, harm and risk. Deployment is not based on race, age, or sex.
“This report makes recommendations on 101 IOPC investigations into Taser use in a five-year timescale. However, there were almost 100,000 recorded Taser usages in this period, so it is statistically insignificant.
“For many years, PFEW has fully supported the IOPC’s desire to seek improvements to national Taser guidance and training.
“Police officers are the practitioners of Taser and would ultimately be affected by these recommendations if implemented. We are naturally disappointed our 130,000 members were not consulted and this study is based on 0.1 per cent of Taser uses over a five-year period.”
