TASER Policy

The request was successful.

Dear Hertfordshire Constabulary,

Hertfordshire Constabulary have been quoted in a news article* as stating:

"Officers using taser are also required to keep two hands on the device at all times, and so it is deemed appropriate for officers to use feet, knees or other parts of their body to assist with the detention or control of individuals."

Could you please confirm, or deny, if this statement, or one substantially the same as it, was made by the force. If the statement was not as reported could you please release the actual statement made. I am happy for this element of my request to be interpreted as focusing only on the sentence quoted.

Could you please release any current policy or training documents containing the requirement described as: "Officers using taser are also required to keep two hands on the device at all times".

--

Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

* https://www.thecomet.net/news/crime/poli...

1 Attachment

Dear Richard Taylor,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 28th
October.

Yours sincerely,
Jo Atkins

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

This FOI response confirmed the police force issued the statement:

"Officers using taser are also required to keep two hands on the device at all times, and so it is deemed appropriate for officers to use feet, knees or other parts of their body to assist with the detention or control of individuals"

and reveals:

"There is no mandate/requirement in either an SOP or Taser Training Curriculum, for an officer to keep both hands on a CED (Taser) device at all times"

I have tweeted drawing attention to this response to the journalist, and publication, which carried the quoted statement, as well as Private Eye, and the Police and Crime Commissioner.

https://twitter.com/RTaylorUK/status/146...

It's important that statements from the police are accurate so the public can have confidence in them. Reliable information is critical for informed public debate.

I suspect the latter statement referred to in the response might relate to a version of the press release belatedly published on the force website:

https://www.herts.police.uk/news-and-app...

It is not clear if the omission of the statement in question from the latter press release was an intentional correction, or merely an omission arising from a press release being prepared for a different audience / medium.