Police’s new 2-shot Tasers ‘able to inf lict more pain’

SCOTTISH police are to use ‘two-shot’ Taser stunguns which cause a ‘greater sensation of pain’.

Police Scotland announced yesterday that an extra 500 officers will be trained to use the new weapons, which top brass insisted were ‘very safe’.

The Taser X2 will replace the X26 used previously, which the American manufacturer has now stopped making.

Although the X2 will allow a second shot at a target if the first misses, some medical experts have warned it could prove more painful for suspects.

Last night, Kate Nevens, Amnesty International’s Scotland programme director, said: ‘The Taser X2, like all Tasers, is a potentially lethal weapon and as such it should be used only in a strictly limited set of circumstances.

‘If there is a threat to life or the risk of very serious injury, there is a justification for use, but we are concerned that police officers are still likely to cause serious harm using Taser weapons without appropriate training.’

She said there should be ‘strict guidance to ensure a Taser is only used in response to very serious incidents’.

The move to train 500 extra Taser officers is driven by a rise in assaults on officers on duty, from 764 in 2016 to 969 so far in 2017. Deputy Chief Constable Johnny Gwynne said increasing the use of Tasers would improve safety.

Announcing the move at the Police Scotland College at Tulliallan, Fife, he said: ‘We need to ensure the protection of our frontline teams and also protect the public. We can do this better with Taser which gives us a very safe alternative to firearms to deal with these threats.’

Currently, only firearms officers are authorised to use Tasers but the newly trained officers will be part of normal shifts. Each time a Taser is discharged, a report is sent to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner to assess the incident.

Though government advisers found the X2 a suitable replacement for the X26, they warned it could ‘induce a greater degree of muscle contraction and greater sensation of pain’. The weapons were approved by the Home Office, despite at least 11 deaths associated with UK Taser use.

Human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar said: ‘Our policing is supposed to be the envy of the world, but if we take Police Scotland’s approach, there’s a real danger of sleepwalking into increased militarisation of our police.’

A police spokesman said: ‘We are satisfied that the Tasers are safe, and have been approved by the Home Office.’

Meanwhile, it emerged Scottish Police Authority chairman Susan Deacon has asked police to review the use of firing ranges, after Assistant Chief Constable Bernie Higgins was suspended last month over accusations of unauthorised discharge of firearms.