The president of the UK’s National Black Police Association has expressed concern about the disproportionate use of Tasers against ethnic minorities in the wake of the death of former soccer player Dalian Atkinson.
In an article for the Guardian, Janet Hills said it was too early to understand what had happened during the incident in Telford, England, which demanded a thorough investigation.
She said that black and ethnic minorities were three times more likely to be on the receiving end of the weapons when discharged by officers, according to official figures, and the situation is not improving.
Hills urged forces to resist calls for every officer in England and Wales to be given the option to be armed with a Taser in the face of a heightened terrorist risk following attacks in Belgium and France.
She said such large-scale attacks would not have been stopped by officers carrying Tasers, and while increased use felt like an easy option, “we must always be aware of the concern they are causing in communities already filled with mistrust and fear about their interactions with police.”
The Liberal Democrats have accused the British government of “sitting on a report” about the safety of Tasers that was completed for the Home Office in December last year, but has not been published.
The independent inquiry by the Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons (SACMILL), was commissioned after the death of Jordan Begley, a 23-year-old factory worker from Manchester, was linked to the use of a Taser last year.
The study was reportedly completed in December, but officials have claimed that it was not a formal assessment and was never intended to be a public report.
Hills questioned some of the assumptions about the safety of the “less lethal” weapons.
She said that as a police officer she had been told that Tasers would protect her colleagues and communities.
“[I was told] that they could literally stop a raging bull, take down the strongest attacker and keep us safe. When first introduced, we were assured that they were the ‘soft’ option,” Hills said.
She said it was now clear that there have been a number of fatalities.
“In a controlled environment, with medical care on hand and with a volunteer who is fit, healthy — and not on drink or drugs — everything does seem fine, but on the streets where officers patrol, that benign scenario rarely exists,” she said.
Instead, she warned of mental health, drinking and drug issues, with some of the factors being more prevalent in parts of the black and ethnic minority community.
“I still believe our best hope is to stick with the core of what we do best here in the UK, policing by consent, with support of the public and the communities that make up the UK,” she said.
Sources have suggested that the findings of the committee report have been communicated to police forces across the country, but not the full study.
The British National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC), which saw the report, said: “On the basis of the evidence available to the committee at that stage, SACMILL’s opinion was that the current medical statement on the Taser X26 system remains applicable.”
However, the group did take action in response to the findings.
“SACMILL also made some comments and, in light of these observations, the NPCC has reinforced that police forces pay particular attention to specific training on the use of Taser in confined spaces, including use of angled drive stun; the preferred target area of probes attaching ‘above and below the belt line,’ and understanding the difference in probe spread when firing from a ‘straight arm’ and a ‘braced hip’ position,” it added.
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