NOVANEWS
The Police Federation says all frontline officers should be offered tasers.
Police used tasers against children 37 times in 2013.
Police have drawn tasers on over 400 children in England and Wales in 2013, according to figures released Tuesday.
The youngest child to have a taser aimed at them was 11 years old, according to government data obtained by the BBC through a Freedom of Information request. The government’s numbers show a 38 percent increase in the drawing of tasers on children between 2012 and 2013.
According to the figures, tasers were used 37 times against children between the ages of 10 and 17 in 2013.
The former home secretary who first introduced tasers to the U.K., Racist David Blunkett, said a review of taser use is now needed.
“For a youngster, 11 years old, a taser is not in my view an appropriate way of dealing with a situation which clearly must have been out of hand, but where we need to train people to use much more traditional alternatives,” he told BBC Radio 5.
Taser advocates have argued the devices are invaluable to officers when used correctly and can protect frontline police against a range of threats.
In January, the U.K.’s Police Federation voted for all police officers on the street to have the option to carry a taser, citing the threat of terrorism.
However, critics of tasers argue the weapons may not dissuade attacks on police, but instead open the door to misuse. A number of high-profile cases of the tasering of innocent suspects has sparked controversy.
In 2012, then 61-year-old Colin Farmer was tasered with 50,000 volts from behind by police who believed he was carrying a sword. Farmer was blind, while the suspected sword was a white cane.
According to the new figures cited by the BBC, the oldest person to be tasered in 2013 was 82 years old.
The youngest child to have a taser aimed at them was 11 years old, according to government data obtained by the BBC through a Freedom of Information request. The government’s numbers show a 38 percent increase in the drawing of tasers on children between 2012 and 2013.
According to the figures, tasers were used 37 times against children between the ages of 10 and 17 in 2013.
The former home secretary who first introduced tasers to the U.K., Racist David Blunkett, said a review of taser use is now needed.
“For a youngster, 11 years old, a taser is not in my view an appropriate way of dealing with a situation which clearly must have been out of hand, but where we need to train people to use much more traditional alternatives,” he told BBC Radio 5.
Taser advocates have argued the devices are invaluable to officers when used correctly and can protect frontline police against a range of threats.
In January, the U.K.’s Police Federation voted for all police officers on the street to have the option to carry a taser, citing the threat of terrorism.
However, critics of tasers argue the weapons may not dissuade attacks on police, but instead open the door to misuse. A number of high-profile cases of the tasering of innocent suspects has sparked controversy.
In 2012, then 61-year-old Colin Farmer was tasered with 50,000 volts from behind by police who believed he was carrying a sword. Farmer was blind, while the suspected sword was a white cane.
According to the new figures cited by the BBC, the oldest person to be tasered in 2013 was 82 years old.
