Police cleared to use new two-shot Taser

TWO-SHOT Tasers, which are more powerful than the current model used by police officers, have been given the go-ahead by the Home Office for use in Britain.

Police already use the Taser X26 but have called for it to be replaced because the American manufacturer has now stopped making it.

The new non-lethal Taser X2 will allow trained officers to take a second shot at a target if the first barb misses, although some medical experts have warned that it could prove more painful for suspects.

However, Home Office minister Brandon Lewis said yesterday that the X2 carries new features, including a five second cut-off warning to prevent a shock continuing too long, which could make it safer.

Mr Lewis said the Government was committed to “ensuring our officers have access to the best and most appropriate technology”, and he added: “The decision to authorise the Taser X2 follows stringent consideration of strategic, ethical, operational and societal issues.”

Taser UK managing director Matt Spencer said the X2 was a “smart” device with upgraded features such as “improved accuracy with its dual lasers”. It also records and stores more data and can be linked to police bodyworn cameras, making it “more accountable”, he said.

While announcing the upgrade to the X2, the Govern- ment also said police would be required to collect and publish all data on Taser use.

The approval came despite at least 11 deaths in the UK associated with Tasers, including that of ex-Aston Villa footballer Dalian Atkinson, who died in August 2016 after a confrontation with police at his home in Telford, Shropshire.

Brian Paddick, the Lib Dem’s home affairs spokesman and a former police chief, said: “The use of Tasers sits uncomfortably with the principle of policing by consent… I hope these transparency measures will help us scrutinise their use more closely, but I fear we won’t like what we see.”

Although government advisers found that the X2 was a suitable replacement, they called for a number of features to be monitored once the device is introduced and warned that it could “induce a greater degree of muscle contraction and a greater sensation of pain”.