Assaults rise for officers using Tasers
Police officers carrying Tasers are both more likely to be assaulted and to use force against suspects, a new study suggests.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge found City of London officers armed with the electroshock weapons were almost 50 per cent more likely to use force in the line of duty.
This comes as two police officers could be prosecuted over the death of former footballer Dalian Atkinson who was Tasered in Telford in 2016.
The 48-year-old, who played for Aston Villa from 1991 until 1995, died after being shot with a police Taser outside his father’s house in Meadow Close, Trench.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has now revealed that it has passed a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service(CPS) to consider criminal charges against two police officers.
Three West Mercia Police officers were twice interviewed under criminal caution and served with gross misconduct notices in relation to the incident.
The third officer has not been referred to the CPS.
The police constables had attended the incident and were involved in detaining Mr Atkinson outside the address before he was taken to Princess Royal Hospital Telford where he died.
The new study also found that officers carrying Tasers faced twice as many assaults as unarmed colleagues.
Between June 2016 and June 2017, researchers allocated a Taser-carrying officer to 400 frontline shifts.
Use of force was 48 per cent higher among those officers carrying Tasers than their unarmed counterparts.
Hostility
It was 19 per cent higher among those without a Taser but accompanying a carrying officer.
Six physical assaults against police were recorded during shifts with Taser-carrying officers, compared to just three on unarmed shifts.
In total, over the study period, Tasers were deholstered nine times by the examined officers, with suspects shocked on two occasions.
Dr Barak Ariel, from the Cambridge Institute of Criminology, said: "We found that officers are more likely to be assaulted when carrying electroshock weaponry and more likely to apply force.
"The City of London Police rarely discharged Tasers during the study. Yet the very presence of the weapon led to increased hostility between the police and public.
"The presence of Tasers appears to provoke a pattern where suspects become more aggressive toward officers, who in turn respond more forcefully."
Study co-author Chief Superintendent David Lawes, from the City of London Police, said: "The use of Tasers have been a proportionate and sensible introduction to policing against a backdrop of unsophisticated terror attacks and an increase in violent crime across London.
"A number of other forces are interested in replicating the study to add to the evidence base and see whether the experiment produces the same results outside of London.
"Across our force, we will continue to use evidence to define how we target problems, which tactics we should use and how we can ensure policing is efficient and safer for both the general public and our officers."
