‘Police need tasers’ as assaults on them soar
POLITICS AND PERCEPTION IS PRIORITY OVER SAVING OFFICERS FROM ATTACK, CLAIMS FEDERATION BOSS
ALL West Midlands police officers should be armed with Tasers in a bid to stem the tide of rising attacks on them, a Federation chief claims.
Sergeant Richard Cooke, a serving officer who is also head of the West Midlands Police Federation, which represents rank and file staff, says he is hugely concerned by the threat facing officers on the region’s streets.
It comes as more than a third of the force’s officers who took part in a new survey said they did not consider their mental health to be good.
Sgt Cooke insists officers need greater protection and believes equipping all of them with Tasers would make thugs think twice about attacking them.
He said: “We’re getting 200 assaults a month. Bosses are reluctant to give us equipment like Tasers because they’re worried about politics and perception when they should be worrying about looking after officers.”
Around 1,000 of the 7,500-strong West Midlands force carry Tasers and a review is currently ongoing into whether that number should be expanded. Sgt Cooke says officers want as much protection as possible when doing their jobs and fears rising attacks will make some question whether it is still the right profession for them. He said: “It’s a massive concern for me. We get the assault figures every morning, and those are just the ones that are reported. We’re campaigning for further Taser roll-outs precisely because of this.
“It doesn’t prevent all assaults but evidence suggests you’re nine times less likely to be assaulted if you’ve got a big yellow thing strapped to your vest when you get out of the car. It changes the dynamics. ‘‘We’re policing some of the most violent streets in Britain. We’re subjected to so much risk of being assaulted. We’re in the grip of a crime epidemic but we’re still in this Victorian mindset of officers going out with a little stick and a tin of spray.” Sgt Cooke also fears a series of recent scandals involving the Met Police have resulted in all cops being “tarred with the same brush” and believes some young officers are finding the job is “not all it was cracked up to be”. He says he was not surprised morale within the force was currently so low.
He added: “They are faced with rising assaults, ongoing criticism, a lack of support from politicians and senior officers who have to be seen to pander to the Twitter groups.
“They don’t seem to back us up as much as they should.
“It’s a very demoralising job at the moment. I had an officer of four years ring up and is resigning – he’s had enough.”
We’re in the grip of a crime epidemic but still in this Victorian mindset of officers going out with a stick and tin of spray. Sgt Richard Cooke,