Home Office:Tasers used by police on thousands of children

Police used Tasers on more than 2,000 children in five years, official figures reveal.

This includes almost 70 children aged under 14, who were targeted across England and Wales from 2011 to 2015, according to the Home Office.

In all, more than 2,000 youngsters under 18 were targeted during this time by officers armed with Tasers, which can deliver a shock of up to 50,000 volts.

Police used Tasers on more than 2,000 children in five years, official figures reveal. This includes almost 70 children aged under 14, who were targeted across England and Wales from 2011 to 2015, according to the Home Office

There is growing concern on the effects on children on electrical discharge weapons - which causes muscles to contract and overwhelms the nervous system for around five seconds. File photo

There is growing concern on the effects on children on electrical discharge weapons – which causes muscles to contract and overwhelms the nervous system for around five seconds. File photo

The numbers, which have risen by more than 50 per cent to 519 last year, include cases where Tasers were drawn, aimed or fired, according to The Times, which eventually obtained the figures from the Home Office after 11 months. 

About one in six – 20,000 – police officers in England and Wales is currently trained to use Tasers, a ‘less-lethal’ weapon that allows suspects to be subdued at a distance. 

Surveys carried out by rank-and-file police associations have indicated there is strong support for the equipment to be issued to more frontline officers. 

However, there is growing concern on the effects on children on electrical discharge weapons – which causes muscles to contract and overwhelms the nervous system for around five seconds.

Rise of the Taser

Last year, Tasers were used 11,294 times, although in most cases the officers only had to draw or aim the gun rather than fire it. 

Tasers were introduced in England and Wales in 2003 in a 12-month trial for firearms officers in five police forces.

Four years later police were told they could use them on under-18s, leading to 27 recorded cases in which they were employed.

In 2008 Tasers were rolled out across the country, and were no longer limited to specialist officers.

Supporters say the weapons offer a vital tool for police to defuse dangerous confrontations without the use of live ammunition.

But critics are concerned that Tasers are being drawn in everyday situations to bully and intimidate members of the public. 

Speaking in 2016, Carla Garnelas, the co-director of the Children’s Rights Alliance for England, called for an outright ban on the use of Tasers on children.

‘The use of Taser on children is a breach of their human rights,’ she told the Independent on Sunday.

‘UN bodies have repeatedly called for the UK government to ban their use on children, highlighting the serious risk of physical and psychological harm they pose, yet the use of Taser on children continues. We want to see a ban on Taser use on children.’ 

Meanwhile, researchers funded by the US Department of Justice, found the burst of electricity from Taser-like stun guns can impair a person’s ability to remember and process information. 

Some of those who were hit by the electric weapons also showed short-term declines in cognitive function which were comparable to mild dementia.

The scientists behind the 2016 study said it raises serious questions about the ability of suspects to understand their rights and answer questions after they have been hit by a Taser. 

Dr Robert Kane, director of the criminology and justice studies department at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who led the study, said: ‘Being shocked had a traumatic effect on some participants.

‘Some were emotionally debilitated by the experience.’



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