Analysis: Tasers - coming to a policeman near you
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Tuesday, 16, Dec 2008 12:00
The public would be wholly in favour of Tasers – if they weren't terrified they'd be used against them.
Here is a battle for public confidence which is far from resolved. The government's growing commitment on these weapons places more and more importance on their well-managed use – and opinion about them.
Misuse of a Taser would, quite rightly, be newsworthy. They deliver a shock of up to 50,000 volts and are used to disable those who pose a threat to police officers. Those who have seen footage of them being tested will know the chilling feeling they prompt. For someone who doesn't like the smallest static shock, the thought of being shot by a Taser is as horrifying as it is unthinkable.
Unfortunately Britons will increasingly have to worry about this unpleasant possibility. And that's why today's report on Tasers by human rights organisation Amnesty International will be such a blow to the Home Office. It appears they're not so non-fatal after all.
Amnesty points out 334 people have been killed by Tasers in the United States after being shot by them since 2001.
It looked at the results of 98 autopsies and discovered 90 per cent involved victims who were unarmed and did not pose a serious threat.
This appears clear evidence of misuse of Tasers – a horrifying possibility if transferred to these shores.
The government, of course, denies that such errors would take place in Britain. It points to scrutiny of its various pilots and rollouts from the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Home Office Scientific Development Branch as evidence.
If that isn't enough, independent medical advice suggests "the risk of death or serious injury from the use of Tasers within Acpo guidance and policy is very low".
Commander Bob Broadhurst has admitted a high level of transparency is "absolutely key" in maintaining public confidence in their use.
"Every use of a Taser will continue to be monitored, with independent scrutiny from the [Metropolitan police authority]. There is a robust system of accountability including unique identification on each discharge; downloads from the Taser itself and mandatory reporting of public complaints," he said.
Perhaps the unanswered question is the fear that Tasers may be used in ways contravening approved measures – as Amnesty claims has occurred in the United States.
Its arms programme director Oliver Sprague warned today the Taser is "clearly a dangerous weapon" which should only be used in "very limited circumstances".
"It must be kept in the hands of a small number of highly trained specialist officers," he argued.
If not, the hint is that Britons will find themselves being Tasered if they fail to comply with officers' commands.
Amnesty International research has also revealed that US police forces have used Tasers on schoolchildren – including an 11-year-old girl with learning disabilities - pregnant women and an elderly person with dementia.
How to respond to the report? Members of the public have a choice to make. They must either trust the government's assurances that such mistakes will not be made in Britain – or oppose the use of Tasers completely.
There is nothing like heavy-handed policing for causing the government problems. Most of the time the public backs the police – but it also remembers their determined crushing of protesting miners back in the good old days.
Pollsters Ipsos Mori know a thing or two about the public's doublethink on such issues. Managing director Ben Page even has a phrase for this hypocrisy – cognitive polyphasia – whereby the public will instinctively react against violent solutions like tasers while wholeheartedly backing the police.
Its end-of-year review contains some hints about this issue will play politically. The trend in concern over crime and law and order in Britain has steadily increased since 2003. Concerns that punishments are too lenient are declining. And physical insecurity levels have barely shifted in the last decade, despite increases in police numbers which have failed to sate the public's appetite for more police on the street.
It's all about perception. Looking at these figures, the Home Office could be forgiven for not worrying too much about the electoral impact of tasers. And the Conservatives are in an awkward position here: their traditional strength on law and order issues faces being undermined if they attack the government too heavily.
That, perhaps, is why the use of Tasers by British police officers will continue to be increased in the coming months. Nothing is certain, however. If anyone falls victim to unjustified Taser use in Britain, the goalposts may begin to move.
Alex Stevenson