Tasers Fired in Last 12 Months

The request was successful.

Dear Derbyshire Constabulary,

Under FOI, please provide the following information:

1) The number of tasers owned by Derby constabulary
2) The number of times tasers were fired at members of the public in the past 12 months.

Yours faithfully,

Talbot Munce

Freedom of Information Office,

Mr Munce,

 

I write in connection with your request for information as shown below.

 

1) The number of tasers owned by Derby constabulary

2) The number of times tasers were fired at members of the public in the
past 12 months.

 

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Information Act 2000 (the Act). You should expect to receive a response
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Yours sincerely

Kevin Lea

Freedom of Information Officer

Derbyshire Constabulary, Police Headquarters, Butterley Hall, Ripley,
Derbyshire.  DE5 3LX

Tel: 101   Direct Dial: 01773 572776 

 Email: [1][email address]

Web: [2]http://www.derbyshire.police.uk

 

 

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Freedom of Information Office,

2 Attachments

Mr Munce,

Thank you for making a Freedom of Information request to the Derbyshire Constabulary.

Please find attached our response to your request.

Yours sincerely,

Kevin Lea

Freedom of Information Officer

Derbyshire Constabulary, Police Headquarters, Butterley Hall, Ripley, Derbyshire. DE5 3LX

Tel: 101 Direct Dial: 01773 572776

Email: [email address]

Web: http://www.derbyshire.police.uk

PLEASE NOTE: This e-mail message is intended solely for the person to whom it is addressed and may contain information of a confidential or legally privileged nature which should not be disclosed. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the message and any attachments or copies. Any review, re-transmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking action in reliance upon, this message by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Derbyshire Constabulary or any other person and Derbyshire Constabulary does not accept liability for any statement or opinion expressed. Please be aware Derbyshire Constabulary monitors all internet e-mail activity and content to maintain system performance and appropriate business usage.

WEBSITE: Join the policing family at Derbyshire Constabulary. We are recruiting Special Constables. For more details visit http://www.derbyshire.police.uk

WARNING: E-mail may be susceptible to data corruption, interception, viruses, unauthorised amendments and unforeseen delays. All e-mail has been scanned for viruses, but Derbyshire Constabulary cannot accept liability for any loss or damage incurred as a result of virus infection or any other data corruption, interception, unauthorised amendment or delay.

J Roberts left an annotation ()

Independent report explores the potential causes of racial and ethnic disparities in the use of Taser

(Analysis by researchers from Keele University, UCL, The University of Exeter and Staffordshire University)

Key findings from the research suggest:

https://www.keele.ac.uk/about/news/2023/...

The Report:

Taser use and its association with social, ethnic and racial disparities in policing (TASERD)

https://www.keele.ac.uk/kpac/fundedproje...

Table 2. Taser usage levels across the force areas p149 (9 police forces)

Drawn - Aimed - Arched - Red-dotted - Fired/angle-drive stun

eg. Fired/angle-drive stun

Derbyshire 103 (9.2%).....GMP 741 (14%).....Met 3,178 (9.40%).....West Mercia 89 (5.31%).....Gwent 88 (9.43%.....Bedfordshire 124 (9.99%.....Surrey 181 (8.81%).....West Yorkshire 202 (7.47%).....Hampshire 192 (14.20%)

In the year ending on March 31, 2022, Home Office Statistics record that Tasers were utilised in a total of 34,276 incidents p25

People perceived by the police to be ‘Black or Black British’ were 8.6 times more likely than ‘White’ people to experience Taser during use-of-force incidents. p23

Put differently, our data resonate with the idea that British policing is occurring within a society that is structurally racist, by which we mean that for a variety of different reasons people with ethnic minority heritage find it harder to access opportunity and wealth in the UK and are therefore more likely to reside areas of socio-economic deprivation. 19

4. We also identified a notable lack of attention to utilising dialogue, or tactical communications, to handle situations of potential conflict, and in terms of de-escalation strategies more broadly. p202

• The study suggests that, in practice, there is an imbalance in the training towards utilising the weapon in contrast to developing parallel de-escalation skills. The study highlights concerns relating to assessment, relatively permissive guidance, and other issues all of which combine to heighten the risk of creating a ‘push’ towards the use of Taser. p12

It is often suggested that BWV audits are an effective way forward regarding scrutiny and research-based analysis of CED use... However, mirroring the experiences of SGMs, the research team encountered acute difficulties accessing BWC footage for a variety of different reasons... However, even in our limited sample we observed several instances where use of Taser appeared to us to be contrary to the guidance provided in Authorised Professional Practice (APP) and training. p11/12

Concerns were also raised about the lack of follow up on IOPC recommendations. As one participant noted:

“When I read the IOPC’s 2021 study I almost wept because it identified everything that went wrong in [his] case. And nothing was learned, and nothing has changed… 36