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UK: Minister confirms that tasers are "dangerous weapons"

01 May 2005

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The Home Office minister, Hazel Blears, has belatedly joined criticism aimed at the safety of the Taser stun gun which was issued to some police officers in England and Wales last September (see Statewatch Vol. 14 no. 6). Blears made her unexpected intervention during an interview with the Police Review journal when she rejected issuing the stun guns to all police officers arguing that it was a "dangerous weapon" and could "drive a wedge between the [police] service and the public." Her remarks, which echo concerns expressed by civil liberties groups over the past years, did not go down well with the Police Federation, whose vice-chairman, Alan Gordon, said: "Officers face dangers daily that require more than a pair of handcuffs and a truncheon."

Blears' decision not to extend police use of the Taser for the time being, followed Amnesty International's release of new figures documenting 103 Taser-related deaths in the USA and Canada between June 2001 and March 2005. Their data shows that TASER-related deaths have occurred in 25 states of the USA and that the number of deaths has increased by 94% since June 2001. Manufacturer Taser International reacted to the shocking Amnesty figures arguing that counter to Amnesty's claims the taser had saved at least 685 lives and that "a reasonable and conservative estimate is that over 6,000 lives have been saved with TASER energy weapons". Amnesty analysed Taser International's assertions and found their figures to be "statistically impossible".

Amnesty International press release "TASER-related deaths hit triple-digits as Manufacturers (TASR) grossly exaggerates the number of lives saved by TASERs" 1 April 2005; Amnesty International "United States of America: Excessive and lethal; force: Amnesty International's concerns about deaths and ill-treatment involving police use of tasers" http://web.amnesty.org.library/index/engamr511392004 See also:
http://www.taser.com/documents/TASER_AIUSA-debate.pdf

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