1 Introduction
The procurement of Taser weapons
by police forces in England and Wales
1. In July 2010, during the hunt for Raoul Moat,
Mr Peter Boatman (a director of Pro-Tect Systems Ltd, now deceased)
supplied Northumbria Police Force with a Taser weapon which had
not been authorised for use by the Home Office Scientific Development
Branch. This was compounded by the fact that he had delivered
it by himself; this appears to have been inspired by a genuine
wish to assist the police at a time of crisis but it breached
the terms of the authority held by Pro-Tect Systems to supply
Tasers. The weapon supplied was the X12 Taser shotgun and XREP
Taser bullets. The benefit of the X12 shotgun is that the Taser
probes in the XREP bullet can be shot from up to 20 metres away
as opposed to the 5 metre distance needed to employ the M26 or
X26 Taser. There are also significant disadvantages to the use
of the X12 including reduced accuracy, less control over the period
of discharge, and the risk of causing inadvertent muscle action
in the target, possibly inducing them to accidentally fire any
weapon they carry.[1] As
Crown servants under Section 54(3) of the Firearms Act 1968, Northumbria
Police Force were legally able to use the weapon. We were informed
by Northumbria police that the X12 was supplied under Article
2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, allegedly on the
grounds that a state do everything possible to discharge the state's
positive duty to preserve life. [2],[3]
We are not persuaded by this argument, and express great concern
at the implications if this were to be taken as carte blanche
to override legislation.
2. Due to the irregularities surrounding its supply
and delivery to the Northumbria Police Force, in September 2010,
Pro-Tect Systems Ltd, the sole supplier of Taser weapons in the
UK, lost its authority to supply Taser weapons in the UK. The
company was however, given a short term authority until the end
of the year to sell off its stock. We are unable to judge whether
or not this was a proportionate response. Shortly after, we heard
anecdotal evidence that a number of police forces were running
low on stock and unable to re-order as Pro-Tect Systems Ltd had
run out of Taser cartridges although they still had a number of
Taser weapons in stock. There was concern that some police forces
would run out of stock before a new supplier was authorised by
the Home Office. We took the decision to hold an urgent evidence
session on 7 December 2010 in order to clarify the state of affairs.
We took evidence from: Kevin Coles, Managing Director of Pro-Tect
Systems Ltd; Assistant Chief Constable Simon Chesterman, ACPO
lead on Conducted Energy Devices and Assistant Chief Constable
Andy Adams, Kent Police; and, Graham Widdecombe, Head of Firearms,
Policing Directorate, Home Office, Christian Papleontiou, Head
of the Armed Policing and Less-lethal Weapons Section, Policing
Directorate, Home Office and Graham Smith, Manager: Firearms and
Protective Equipment, Home Office Scientific Development Branch.
During the evidence session, the Home Office announced that, having
been approached by several companies interested in the contract,
all of whom they had referred to Taser International, Inc., it
had authorised a new supplier, Tactical Safety Responses Ltd,
who were waiting to receive stock from Taser International and
would shortly be able to supply Taser guns and cartridges to police
forces in England and Wales. However the session raised several
issues which we consider worth noting.
3. In this brief report we will first examine issues
relating to the authorisation for use and distribution of Tasers
in the UK. We will go on to examine one or two other questions
relating to Taser use in England and Wales. Although in questioning
we touched on a number of issues relating to the use of Tasers
in policing, this was not the main focus of our inquiry. The circumstances
in which Tasers can be used, the prevalence of their use, the
training given to officers in their use and the extent to which
they are justifiable alternatives to other methods of restraint
are all important issues which would merit further investigation.
The use of Taser by police forces
in England and Wales
4. Tasers are classified as a firearm under Section
5 of the Firearms Act 1968 and as such, cannot legally be carried
by members of the public. Because of this classification, there
are strict limitations on who may buy and sell them and how they
should be stored, including during transportation. Police forces
in England and Wales have been allowed by the Home Office to use
Tasers since April 2004, following a 12 month trial during which
they were deployed by authorised firearms officers across five
police forces—Lincolnshire, Metropolitan, Northamptonshire,
North Wales and Thames Valley. At first, deployment was restricted
to authorised firearms officers but in July 2007, the Home Secretary
approved a one-year trial by 10 police forces—Avon and Somerset,
Devon and Cornwall, Gwent, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Metropolitan,
Northamptonshire, Northumbria, North Wales and West Yorkshire—which
extended the deployment of Tasers, subject to training, to officers—known
rather confusingly as 'specially trained units'—"who
are not firearms officers in circumstances where officers were
facing violence or threats of violence of such severity that they
would need to use force to protect the public, themselves or the
subject."[4] This
allowed the use of Tasers by specially trained officers at incidents
where there was the threat of serious violence, including the
use of weapons such as knives. Following this trial, use of Taser
by authorised firearms officers and specially trained officers
in accordance with Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO)
policy and guidelines was approved by the Home Secretary for all
police forces in England and Wales.
5. 'Taser' is a brand name. The generic term for
such weapons are stun guns, conducted energy devices or conducted
energy weapons. Although several companies manufacture such weapons,
only those manufactured by Taser International[5]
are currently authorised for use by police forces in England and
Wales so, for the purposes of this report, all conducted energy
weapons shall be referred to as 'Tasers'. The two Taser weapons
which are authorised for use by police forces in England and Wales
are the M26 Taser and the X26 Taser.
6. Taser stun guns work in two modes. The first
is 'discharge' mode which uses cartridges containing compressed
nitrogen that are attached to 4.5 metre conductor wires connected
to two probes. These probes (which can penetrate up to 2 inches
of clothing or, in the case of the X12 which does not have conductor
wires, an air gap due to the very high voltage involved—50,000
Volts—which ionises the air) deliver an incapacitating electric
pulse which works by causing the subject's muscles to contract
and release more than 19 times a second. The consequence of this
is that the subject will have no muscle control and so fall to
the floor. The lack of muscle control means that they cannot direct
which way they fall or break their fall. The second is 'drive-stun'
mode which causes pain and so is used as a 'pain-compliance' tool:
in other words, a tool which uses pain to subdue the subject.
The cycle of the electrical current is five seconds and any incapacitation
or pain will end when the cycle finishes but this cycle can be
repeated by pressing down on the trigger. The X12 cannot be used
in 'drive-stun' mode as the XREP bullet is entirely separate from
the gun once it has been fired.
7. Before being authorised for use by police forces
in England and Wales, every 'less-lethal weapon' must undergo
testing by the Home Office Scientific Development Branch, a process
described to us by Graham Smith, Manager: Firearms and Protective
Equipment at Home Office Scientific Development Branch:
We start doing some physical testing, looking at
the various aspects of the requirement—first of all, the
easiest ones to do, obviously—to see whether that piece
of equipment meets the requirement. One of the things with less-lethal,
for instance, is accuracy. If it's not accurate, first of all,
it's not going to hit the target and do what you want; and, secondly,
you don't necessarily know what the medical effects may be because
it may hit a part of the body that you're not aiming at. So accuracy
is paramount.
Following the physical testing, a medical assessment
will take place. Medical assessment looks at any operational uses
around the world and any other studies that have been done around
the world. That is then assessed by an independent team of clinicians
who sit under the Defence Scientific Advisory Council. They will
then identify whether there is enough information to comment on
the medical implications of the use of the particular technology.
If there isn't, they may recommend work to be done.[6]
1 Q 158 Back
2
ARTICLE 2
1. Everyone's right to life shall be
protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally
save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction
of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.
2. Deprivation of life shall not be
regarded as inflicted in contravention of this article when it
results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely
necessary:
a) in defence of any person from unlawful
violence;
b) in order to effect a lawful arrest
or to prevent escape of a person lawfully detained;
c) in action lawfully taken for the
purpose of quelling a riot or insurrection. Back
3
Q5 and Ev 22 Back
4
TASER: Trial Evaluation Final Data, HOSDB publication 85/08,
November 2008 Back
5
Taser International Inc. is the world's largest manufacturer of
conducted energy weapons. The word Taser stands for Thomas A.
Swift's Electric Rifle and is an homage to a 1911 novel by Victor
Appleton called Thomas Swift and His Electric Rifle. The
book inspired the original inventor of conducted energy weapons
John H. "Jack" Cover, former chief scientist of North
American Aerospace's Apollo Moon Landing Programme. Back
6
Q 115 Back
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