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West Midlands Police Federation

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250 more officers to get Taser

11 March 2020

The Force is being given a cash injection of £206,250 so that it can equip a further 250 officers with Taser.

All but two forces across England and Wales had bid for a share of the £10 million the Government set aside for the uplift late last year and West Midlands Police received the seventh highest allocation nationwide.

“Taser is an essential piece of equipment for today’s police officers. Our officers are increasingly subject to violence while serving their communities and it is only fair that they are access to the equipment they need to help not just protect themselves but also the public,” says Jon Nott, chair of West Midlands Police Federation.

“As a Federation, we have been calling for all officers who want to have access to Taser to be trained and equipped with the devices. We appreciate it has been difficult for the Force, which has had to manage competing demands for reduced resources during years of police funding cuts, to find the money for any uplift but we are pleased the Police and Crime Commissioner successfully bid for a substantial share of this ring-fenced fund.”

In a Police Federation of England and Wales survey on routine arming in 2017, only 42 per cent of West Midlands officers who responded said all officers should be trained and armed at all times when on duty. But 82 per cent said they wanted to have access to Taser at all times while on duty, when at the time only 15 per cent of respondents, for whom it was applicable to their role, actually had that access.

Latest figures show that while the Force currently has 6,556 officers with 1,400 Taser trained.

In bidding for a share of the £10 million budgeted by the Government, Police and Crime Commissioners across England and Wales sought a total of 7,923 Tasers at a cost of £6.5m. The new money is intended to cover until March 2021.

Read more in our April/May magazine which will be circulated from the end of March.

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