Liberty responds to Government mass Taser rollout

Liberty has responded to Government plans, announced today, to roll out up to 10,000 additional Tasers among police officers in England and Wales.

Rosalind Comyn, Policy and Campaigns Officer at Liberty, said:

“These plans are not just knee-jerk, they reflect a wilful disregard of the well-documented dangers Tasers pose. Tasers can and do kill. They are deployed disproportionately against people of colour and people experiencing mental health issues, and have alarmingly been used against children under 11.

“Arming every officer will normalise the use of Taser in routine police encounters, which risks escalating, rather than reducing, violence on our streets and will further corrode the fractured relationship between police and the communities they serve. These weapons should only be in the hands of specialist firearms officers.

“This proposal reflects an apparent determination to embrace policing by control, while sacrificing policing by consent.”