Police commissioner demands urgent review of Taser training amid concern over officers' deployments

An urgent review of Taser training has been demanded by police and crime commissioners after a series of incidents including one in which a man suffered life-changing injuries.  

Martyn Underhill, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners’ (APCC) lead on force, said it was holding police chiefs to account because of “concerns at the police use of Taser in contentious circumstances.”  

It comes on top of a call by the police watchdog, the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC), for greater scrutiny of the deployment of tasers following the incidents.  

In the past few weeks, the IOPC has opened four inquiries into police use of Tasers.  

One involves a West Midlands police officer who tasered a man who claimed he had simply been a “bystander'' after he went into the street following a car crash outside his house.  

In a video of the incident, the man who has made a formal complaint to the police claims he was ordered to lie on the floor and the Taser was used on him when he failed to comply.  

The police officer who tasered him has been suspended over separate incidents in which a teenager was filmed being kicked in Newtown and a man was punched in Aston a day earlier.  

The second IOPC investigation involves a man who was tasered by officers after an altercation in a petrol station in Stretford, Greater Manchester, and collapsed to the ground in front of his young son.  

The third case involved a man in his 20s in Haringey, North London, who was Tasered as he jumped over a wall and has since been assessed as having suffered a life-changing injury.

The fourth saw a man stopped in Southwark, south London, and “red dotted” with a Taser.  

The controversy comes amid a major increase in the police deployment of Tasers with most forces expanding their numbers. It is being funded through £10 million secured by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, to treble to 60 per cent the proportion of frontline officers trained to use them.  

Mr Underhill, a former detective chief inspector and police and crime commissioner for Dorset, said: “It is clear there are concerns at the police use of Taser in contentious circumstances, including in relation to levels of disproportionality with BAME communities.  

“PCCs are responsible for holding their chief constables to account for the effectiveness and efficiency of policing across all communities and this includes their use of Taser.  

“I have written to both the College of Policing and the NPCC to discuss this and have asked for an urgent review of Taser training. I will also be seeking a meeting with the IOPC to discuss the issues raised in their statement.”

Michael Lockwood, IOPC director general, said Tasers were important in helping officers respond to “dangerous and challenging” but the watchdog was aware of concerns from “a broad range of stakeholders” about disproportionate use.

“More officers are now carrying Taser and there are growing concerns both locally and nationally about its disproportionate use against black men and those with mental health issues,” he said.

“Robust oversight of cases involving Taser is essential for maintaining public confidence in the police use of this kind of force. We need transparency around how and when it is used, and a visible demonstration that police forces are learning from their experiences of using it.”

John Apter, chair of the Police Federation, said on Saturday night he was surprised and disappointed by the APCC lead’s move, saying training and scrutiny were thorough. “Many PCCs have supported the wider roll out of Taser by funding them,” he added.

However, a number of police and crime commissioners opposed the call for a review and the APCC chief executive Susannah Hancock said it remain committed to the use of Taser and Mr Underhill’s demand for a review was not the united position of the APCC.