[LAF] FW: MORE tazer

Thu Nov 29 17:35:57 UTC 2007

Does anyone have any estimates of the likely annual number of "Taserees"?

Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:34:37 +0000To: joy_helbin at hotmail.comSubject: RE: [ukfeministaction] DPI e-update - DISABLED PEOPLES INTERNATIONALAt 23:10 2007.11.26, you wrote:
Thanks for that, John.  Someone sent me an article about the police in the US tazering an elderly grandmother recently but it's clearly just as bad over here.          I didn't see that.  But there were reports of Canadians killing a Polish immigrant, who got lost on landing and was vainly waiting for his mother to meet him.
Proper training for the police and public education would help immensely to change attitudes.          I emailed Jacqui Smith about this three months ago, suggesting "that what the police need is not more powers, but effective training in the appropriate use of the powers they already have".  See below.
Even if for the first 10 years most of the police were only following orders rather than acting from genuine agreement with the guidelines, at least after that time most staff would actually be acting from understanding instead of ignorance or belligerence.        Do you have any estimates of the likely annual number of "Taserees"?                 See you tomorrow, [Wed.],                          John.
Date: Sun, 02 Sep 2007 08:39:48 +0100Subject: Use of Taser stun guns by police without firearms trainingTo:  The Rt. Hon. Mrs. Jacqui Smith, Home SecretaryDear Mrs. Smith,        Further to my email of 23rd August, [8:46 a.m. -- copy below], I am greatly concerned at reports this weekend that potentially-lethal Taser electric stun guns have now been made available in ten forces for use by inadequately trained police with unarmed opponents.        Whereas specially-trained firearms officers undergo "intensive and robust ongoing training in real life scenarios about when and how to deploy [their] weapons", there is reportedly no similar training for police issued with Tasers.        Given the brutal and bloody assaults inflicted just two weeks ago at Heathrow's Climate Camp by vicious police wielding metal truncheons against peaceful protesters, you will understand why I am deeply fearful of the consequences of Tasers being wielded by untrained, unsupervised, immature, trigger-happy thugs in uniform, or any combination thereof.[1]     What preparatory training is given before individuals are eligible to wield Tasers?[2]     What training programme is in place to maintain competence and fitness to wield Tasers?[3]     When are Tasers issued -- or are they now routinely available within the forces participating in the pilot?[4]     What is the Home Office assessment of the likely consequences when a Taser falls into criminal hands?[5]     What measures are in place to prevent Tasers from falling into criminal hands:    [5a]        at the scene of deployment;    [5b]        whilst being carried on duty;    [5c]        during storage and shipment?                          Yours sincerely,                                           ==========================================================         http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL0113139220070901        Fears over Taser gun expansion        Sat Sep 1, 2007 12:48PM BSTLONDON (Reuters) - Non-firearms police officers in England and Wales will have access to Taser electric stun guns from Saturday under plans to give frontline officers more powers when confronted with violent suspects.Previously the 50,000-volt devices could only be used by firearms officers.The year-long trial in 10 forces will allow officers to fire the guns if faced with violence or threats.Up to now, they could only be used by officers when confronted by an armed person.The guns, which are to be used by non-firearms officers working in specially trained units, temporarily disable a suspect by firing two barbed darts trailing electric wires.The plans were proposed by the then Home Secretary John Reid in May.Human rights groups are against the use of the guns because they have been linked to dozens of deaths in America and Canada.A spokesman for Amnesty International told BBC radio there is a place for the Taser in a police officer's weaponry, but he added: "We are concerned that any wider deployment of these beyond specially-trained firearms officers who go through intensive and robust ongoing training in real life scenarios about when and how to deploy these weapons is maybe a step too far."He added: "A Taser is less lethal than a gun, but not non-lethal. I mean, they are potentially lethal."A Taser gun training officer said the weapons offered a wider range of tactical options for officers on the street.He told BBC radio: "Put simply, if you can reduce the risk of injuries to police officers, reduce the injuries to the public, and reduce the injuries to the subjects we deal with, then that has got to be a good thing."He said officers undergo three days of training, followed by coaching.The Home Office said no deaths have been linked to their use in Britain.Taser guns have been used in about 700 incidents since their introduction in the UK four years ago.          ==========================================================         Email of 23rd August:  "Shooting in Liverpool - More powers for the police"Dear Mrs. Smith,        I share your concern, as expressed on BBC TV Breakfast News this morning, about the murder of an 11-year-old boy in Liverpool.        However, I am deeply worried that your immediate reaction, expressed in the same sentence, is to wonder whether the police have sufficient powers.        Experience of policing at Heathrow's Climate Camp just four days ago suggests to me very strongly that what the police need is not more powers, but effective training in the appropriate use of the powers they already have.        I append below extracts from a letter I sent to Commander Robert Broadhurst [officer in charge of "Operation Harcourt"], and from one sent by Cllr. Jenny Jones of the Greater London Assembly to Sir Ian Blair on the same issue.        One of your recent predecessors, David Blunkett, was famed for his knee-jerk reactions.  I hope that you will not follow in his faltering footsteps.        I look forward to learning how your office, after due consideration and consultation, proposes to make the police service fit for purpose at the beginning of the 21st century.                 Yours sincerely,                          John Hunt.         ==========================================================         Extract from email to Commander Robert Broadhurst, 20th August         ... My outstanding questions of 15th Aug.  --        [2] what is the official explanation of [Tuesday] night's raid;        [3] what measures are in place to prevent unwarranted and intimidatory invasions--  have now been overtaken by events.  If any measures were instituted to prevent police violence, these were plainly ineffective:  as substantiated by television footage.  The violence that I witnessed personally was completely unwarranted:  so no explanation, official or otherwise, can justify it.  I referred on the 16th to the Jean-Charles de Menezes style of explanation:  though I was not then expecting a repetition of the attack-first mentality deployed on that occasion.        I also requested the Met.'s response to the suggestion in the Guardian, [Wed., 15th]:  "[the Met.'s] protest guidelines should be discarded to the policing of times past, along with institutional racism and wooden truncheons", [ www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2149024,00.html]. In the light of the police behaviour during the Camp, and especially on the 19th and 20th, I repeat that I should  --once the Met. has had time for due consideration and consultation--  like an answer to this question.  I trust that you will keep me informed as to progress:  and that you will also pursue appropriate disciplinary actions against the police who perpetrated acts of violence, including the ones mentioned above.         ==========================================================         Letter to Commissioner Sir Ian Blair from Cllr. Jenny Jones, 21st AugustI am writing to express serious concerns about the policing of the Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow from 12 to 21 August 2007.  These concerns include unprovoked violence by police against peaceful protestors, mass detention of lawful demonstrators including children and local residents, needless arrests, unjustified use of anti-terrorism and anti-harassment legislation for stop and search, and a disproportionate response to the event as a whole.Police violenceI am particularly worried by the numerous reports I have received of police violence against unarmed and peaceful protestors.   On the afternoon Sunday 19 August 2007, officers from both the Metropolitan Police and Surrey Police reportedly assaulted several non-violent demonstrators with truncheons as they attempted to travel across a field south of the climate camp in the direction of BAA offices, and there were more reports of violence by police against peaceful demonstrators – some resulting in injuries – later in the afternoon.  I find it entirely unacceptable for violence to be used against peaceful protestors as a means of crowd control. Lack of identityA number of the officers involved in the violence had removed their police identification numbers and were wearing balaclavas to conceal their faces, and refused to give their numbers when requested.  This practice prevents accountability, as it is impossible to identify the officers involved.  I should like an explanation as to why officers were allowed to participate in the policing of the demonstration while concealing their identities. Mass detentionLocal residents and parents have also complained about the heavy-handed response to the ‘kids and residents’ demonstration, which marched from the climate camp to Harmondsworth on the morning of 19 August 2007.  Participants reported that the march was cordoned off by police, and a number of people requesting to leave the march (including children who needed to use the toilet) were prevented from doing so.  Others who were not part of the march were forcibly pushed into the crowd and prevented from leaving.    As was established by the 2004 High Court ruling on the unlawful detention of anti-war protestors travelling to RAF Fairford, mass detention is not justifiable unless there is a reasonable and immediate cause for suspecting a breach of the peace.  I am concerned that the tactics used by police were a disproportionate response to a small-scale peaceful demonstration and may have been unlawful. ArrestsThere were a number of arrests during the Camp.  Some of the arrests may have been appropriate; however I am concerned that a number were not justified.  I have received reports that several people were arrested and then de-arrested once their names and addresses had been taken.  Other participants reported being arrested for ‘going equipped to cause criminal damage’ for carrying harmless objects such as a wallet chain and a bicycle repair kit. Stop and searchDozens, if not hundreds, of stop and searches were carried out during the Camp for Climate Action. Again, I feel that this tactic was disproportionate to the event.  I am particularly concerned that Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 was used for the purposes of public order policing, rather than for preventing terrorism.  I am also concerned that many of those stopped and searched were threatened with arrest under Section 50 of the Police Reform Act 2002 if they did not provide a name and address.  This legislation was enacted to deal with anti-social behaviour and harassment, and I am concerned that it was being used to record the details of those attending the Climate Camp without specific evidence of anti-social behaviour. CostMore broadly, I feel that the both the scale of Operation Hargood (reportedly involving up to 1800 officers at a cost of £7m) and the tactics used were disproportionate to this peaceful event and were not in keeping with earlier commitments towards facilitating lawful protest and minimising disruption to the local community.          ==========================================================         ========================================================== 
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