Police give go-ahead for dozens more Leicestershire officers to use a Taser

Between now and April 2021, around 150 more officers in appropriate roles will be trained to carry the ‘stun gun’ style weapon, including local and specialist officers on the front line who regularly find themselves in dangerous and often escalating situations.

We reported last month that a recent Leicestershire Police Federation survey found that three-quarters of officers wanted all colleagues to be issued with a Taser.

Senior officers have taken this into account along with the results of a recent public survey, where there was overwhelming support from the public for more officers to be equipped with the weapon – 97 per cent of those who responded were supportive.

The move is also being made possible following a grant from the Home Office, which will allow the force to buy an additional 100 Tasers.

Ch Insp Mick Fletcher, who did the review for the Leicestershire and Rutland force, said: “The evidence makes it clear that Taser not only makes our staff safer, it also makes the public safer, by better equipping us to protect them against violence.

“In the overwhelming majority of cases, the sight of Taser is sufficient to avoid further conflict.

“The staff and public survey both showed support for increased access, and I am delighted that Chief Officers have agreed to support this.”

Dave Stokes, chair of the Leicestershire Police Federation, said: “This is really welcome news from the force in terms of the Taser uplift and the continued commitment from the Chief Officer team to ensure officer safety.

“It’s a great example of the Federation working with the force to keep our staff and communities safer.”

Lord Willy Bach, the local Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “It is our policing tradition that the police do not carry potentially lethal weapons on duty unless it is absolutely necessary to do so.

“In my view the public support the tradition, but are sensible enough to realise when circumstances have changed making it essential for ‘police force’ to change too.

“The Chief Constable will be updating me on a six-monthly basis about the progress and development of the implementation.”

Further work will now take place to prioritise training to meet operational need to best protect officers and public, alike.