theguardian.com
January 17, 2014
A police force that almost doubled its use of Tasers last year has been criticised by Amnesty International UK. Thames Valley police revealed that its officers deployed electric stun guns 119 times in 2013, compared with 61 occasions in 2012.
The figures for last year include several instances of “drive stun” usage, when a Taser is directly applied to a person’s clothes or body. In January 2013 the force announced it would increase the number of officers equipped with Tasers from 280 to 485.
Amnesty International UK has called for the use of the weapons to be restricted to officers trained to the standard of specialist firearms personnel.
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!
