Sussex Police leaves extra Tasers on the shelf

4:00pm Tuesday 23rd June 2009

By Ben Parsons, Crime Reporter

No extra Taser stun guns are being issued to police officers in Sussex – despite a delivery of another 50 of the weapons from the Government.

Sussex Police has been reported as “snubbing” the Home Office's plans to extend Tasers – which are used to take suspects to ground with an electric shock – to non-specialist officers on patrol.

But rank-and-file officers' representatives say they expect wider use of the weapons to be introduced in the future.

The force has confirmed it is currently sticking to the old guidelines under which only trained firearms officers carry the weapons, which deliver a 50,000 volt shock to leave a person temporarily unable to move.

A survey by the Liberal Democrats found Sussex Police and the Metropolitan Police were not following the Home Office's policy of equipping more officers.

When asked what plans existed to extend the use of the taser within the force, Sussex Police's response was: “None.”

A force spokeswoman said yesterday: “We have not currently deployed tasers beyond firearms officers but are keeping the matter under review.

"We regularly review incidents against the resources available in force to ensure we're best placed to keep people safe."

Ben Duncan, a Brighton and Hove City Council Green councillor who sits on Sussex Police Authority, said: “It is a recognition that Sussex Police has got its priorities in order.

“It knows what it needs to be doing and recognises its own needs in terms of protecting police in dealing with criminal situations.”

The Police Federation – which acts as the officers' union – is pressing for widespread training and use of tasers by police on patrol.

Brian Stockham, the chairman of Sussex Police Federation, said representatives have been consulted as part of work to assess the best way of using the weapons.

He said: “We are quite happy that they are pausing because we want to deploy it in the most productive means we can to better serve the people of Sussex.

“We are probably one of the only police forces in the world that is unarmed.”

Sussex Police has been using tasers since 2004. Their use was extended in 2007 to violent situations where no firearms are involved.

Those cases mostly included people being arrested on suspicion of violence, to prevent self-harm or to detain them under mental health laws.

In August 2007 a 15-year-old boy in Shoreham was tasered while being arrested on suspicion of theft.

In May this year there were estimated to be about 120 officers trained to use tasers in Sussex Police.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are committed to providing the police with the tools necessary to do their job to protect the public. However, it is up to individual police forces to decide whether they want to deploy them.

“Taser provides the police with an additional option that is less lethal than conventional firearms.

“They can be used by police officers in specially trained units who are facing violence or threats of violence of such severity that they would need to use force to protect the public and themselves.”