PSNI TASER USE AGAINST KIDS IN ULSTER DOUBLES

Figures reveal 15 incidents last year

THE use of Tasers against children in Northern Ireland has almost doubled in a year, figures have revealed.

There were 15 incidents reported in 2016 in which specially trained officers drew or “red-dotted” the device on young people as a warning.

This was up from eight in 2014 and 2015, the year in which the only case of a Taser being fired against a child was recorded.

The youngest person the PSNI used the device against last year was aged 14.

But PSNI Chief Superintendent Kevin Dunwoody said the deployment of Tasers can save lives in dangerous situations and believes “the age in some ways is incidental”.

He added: “It’s not about using a Taser on a child, it’s about the threat and risk that child poses either to themselves or to others or even to the police.”

Tasers are only available to a limited number of officers and they require a high level of accountability for their use.

Each time one is fired there is an automatic referral to the police ombudsman.

Even when it is drawn, red-dotted or aimed, police need to provide a report and assess whether it was an appropriate response or if another option was available.

Chief Supt Dunwoody said many incidents involved self-harm, adding: “The one thing I would emphasise is we do not use force against a person who is self-harming, the use of a Taser is almost a last resort.

“Of those interventions or interactions with children, the number of times it’s been fired is once.

“Sometimes it has been drawn and sometimes it’s gone to the next stage.” Amnesty International UK’S Oliver Sprague said: “Any rise in the use of Taser against children is of significant concern, not least because they are at much greater risk of serious harm from being

subjected to this weapon.”

IN LINE OF FIRE ...but Tasers are mostly used as a warning