250 more officers to get Taser
2 March 2020
The Force is being given a cash injection of £206,250 so that it can equip a further 250 officers with Taser.
All but two forces across England and Wales had bid for a share of the £10 million the Government set aside for the uplift late last year and West Midlands Police received the seventh highest allocation nationwide.
“Taser is an essential piece of equipment for today’s police officers. Our officers are increasingly subject to violence while serving their communities and it is only fair that they are access to the equipment they need to help not just protect themselves but also the public,” says Jon Nott, chair of West Midlands Police Federation.
“As a Federation, we have been calling for all officers who want to have access to Taser to be trained and equipped with the devices. We appreciate it has been difficult for the Force, which has had to manage competing demands for reduced resources during years of police funding cuts, to find the money for any uplift but we are pleased the Police and Crime Commissioner successfully bid for a substantial share of this ring-fenced fund.”
In a Police Federation of England and Wales survey on routine arming in 2017, only 42 per cent of West Midlands officers who responded said all officers should be trained and armed at all times when on duty. But 82 per cent said they wanted to have access to Taser at all times while on duty, when at the time only 15 per cent of respondents, for whom it was applicable to their role, actually had that access.
Latest figures show that while the Force currently has 6,556 officers with 1,400 Taser trained.
In bidding for a share of the £10 million budgeted by the Government, Police and Crime Commissioners across England and Wales sought a total of 7,923 Tasers at a cost of £6.5m. The new money is intended to cover until March 2021.
The highest allocation was given to the Metropolitan Police which will get £1,965,150 to equip 2,382 officers with Taser. The second highest allocation was to Lancashire where an investment of £313,500 will enable 380 more officers to get the devices, followed by South Wales (331 more officers), Sussex and Surrey, jointly (328), Dorset (315), Merseyside (310) and then West Midlands.
Neither North Yorkshire or Staffordshire made a bid for funding. The lowest bid was made by Gloucestershire (30) followed by Cleveland (48) and West Mercia and Wiltshire (52 each).
A total of £150,000 has been allocated to support the training of Taser instructors with the remainder of the £10m being used to tackle serious violence and county lines drug gangs.
John Apter, the national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, has welcomed the funding allocation.
He said: “I have campaigned for ring-fenced funding for more colleagues to have access to Taser and it’s refreshing that the Home Secretary has listened and acted. It’s because of our lobbying that there will be almost 8,000 more Tasers available for my colleagues, this can only be a good thing.”
And he continued: “This was a unique opportunity for forces to secure extra protections without shouldering the majority of the cost. I would have liked to have seen every penny of the £10m funding used to fund more Tasers. At a time when officer safety is dominating the headlines, I am surprised that some forces chose not to take advantage of this extra funding.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel, announcing the allocations, said: “Our brave police officers put themselves in harm’s way to protect us all and Taser is an important tactical option in potentially dangerous situations.
“This funding forms part of our commitment to ensure forces have the powers, resources and tools they need to keep themselves and the public safe.”
A recent snap-shot poll conducted by the national Federation suggested 89 per cent of officers would want to routinely carry Taser after being given appropriate training with nearly 97 per cent saying their colleagues should be allowed to carry the devices.
