Number of police carrying Tasers in London set to rise to 10,000
The number of police officers on patrol with a Taser stun gun in London is to rise to 10,000 in a major surge in the Met’s firearms capacity. Road traffic and dog patrol officers, who will receive the weapons for the first time, will also be among those equipped with Tasers in recognition of what Scotland Yard believes is a growing level of unpredictable behaviour being seen on the streets. Cressida Dick says Tasers are a life-saving weapon. The increase means that about a third of the Met’s 30,000-plus officers will eventually have a Taser and that the number armed with the stun gun will have doubled since Ms Dick became commissioner.
T he number of police officers on patrol with a Taser stun gun in London is to rise to 10,000 in a major surge in the Met’s firearms capacity.

The increase means that nearly every patrol will include at least one officer equipped with the weapon, which disables suspects by firing a powerful electric charge at their body.

Many of the Tasers will be given to emergency response officers to help them protect the public and themselves when they are called to deal with violent incidents. Others will be handed to police on routine patrols in case they encounter aggressive suspects.

Road traffic and dog patrol officers, who will receive the weapons for the first time, will also be among those equipped with Tasers in recognition of what Scotland Yard believes is a growing level of unpredictable behaviour being seen on the streets.

Met Commissioner Cressida Dick said that Tasers are a life-saving weapon and that expanding their provision will enhance the police’s ability to deal with difficult incidents.

Cressida Dick says Tasers are a life-saving weapon / Getty Images

The increase means that about a third of the Met’s 30,000-plus officers will eventually have a Taser and that the number armed with the stun gun will have doubled since Ms Dick became commissioner.

Examples of their use include when Pc Stuart Outten fired his while being struck with a machete during a routine traffic stop earlier this year. The Standard revealed this week that the hero officer was returning to frontline duties next month.

Ms Dick emphasised that Tasers would be used with restraint, pointing out that most of those “red dotted”, or targeted, surrendered to police to avoid being hit. She added: “It is a very powerful, highly effective piece of equipment. We have very good decision-makers who are very restrained. On 83 per cent of the times when they red-dot someone they don’t fire. It has a fantastic effect in calming people down.”

A date for hitting the target of 10,000 Taser officers has yet to be set. It represents a striking rise from the previously planned total of 6,800 by next April.

Some London politicians have called for every officer to be equipped with a Taser, but Ms Dick said that about a quarter of her officers had indicated that they did not want one.

She also said universal provision was unnecessary because not all officers were on the streets and those who were could receive rapid assistance from a Taser-equipped or armed officer if needed. She added that a “very high proportion” of patrols would include at least one officer with a Taser.

Met statistics show that the weapons were drawn by an officer on 8,760 occasions in the 12-month period to the end of August this year. They were fired 777 times, representing a firing rate of 9 per cent, which is below the national average. On more than a third of the occasions when Tasers weren’t fired, the sight of the weapon being drawn was sufficient to calm the suspect. Just over half were “red-dotted” before ceasing their threatening behaviour.

The Met now uses the X2 Taser which can fire two 50,000-volt charges, unlike earlier versions that discharged only one. Tasers were first given to firearms police in 2003 before being made available to other specially trained officers from 2007.

They remain controversial because of the death of several people — including the former football star Dalian Atkinson, who died after a Taser was fired — although a definitive connection has yet to be established.

The Home Office insists that the weapon, illegal for members of the public to possess, gives forces a useful means of defusing violent incidents.

The extent of their provision is a matter for individual forces to decide. This year Northamptonshire police became the first force to announce that all its frontline officers will have Tasers.

Listen to Martin Bentham discuss this story on the Evening Standard's new daily opinion podcast, The Leader, below.

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