Time for Tasers? Should we arm our police...
At a time when it’s more dangerous than ever to be a police officer, Nick Ferrari declares…
It was delivered with precisely the mix of bluntness and directness you’d expect from one of New York’s finest, about to go on patrol in one of the most crime-ridden parts of the city, where shootings – often fatal – used to be an everyday occurrence.
While in the South Bronx area of New York last month, I had asked the officer how he would feel if he were to be asked to police according to the British model: that is, with neither Taser nor side arm ( gun).
‘ You might as well ask me to go out there without any
shoes,’ was his immediate and unequivocal response.
As part of my Time For Tasers campaign for LBC radio, I’d gone to New York to work with the NYPD (New York Police Department) and assess just how important Taser guns were to their armoury. The campaign was inspired by the grim rise of attacks against police officers in the UK. Indeed, Home Office figures show that an officer in Britain is under a threat of some form of assault every 20 minutes.
In parts of Britain, including Kent and Northamptonshire, physical attacks on officers have doubled in the past 12 months. Brave cops have been beaten, punched, kicked, spat at, stabbed and even attacked with swords. In many instances, further serious injury, or possibly even their death, has only been avoided thanks to the use of a Taser.
For the uninitiated, a Taser is a non-lethal, handgun-style device that fires a dart into a potential assailant, hitting them with a 50,000-volt charge that incapacitates them, and usually fells them instantly, like a freshly chopped tree. They are made available to all officers in many countries across the world, such as the USA, Australia and much of Europe.
But in the UK, what do our officers have to protect themselves? A can of pepper spray, a baton, handcuffs and some cable ties. You’d be excused for thinking that they were a bunch of aggressive gardeners, rather than being charged with upholding law and order across the land.
Back to New York and the South Bronx – as I’ve already mentioned, one of the most challenging areas of the city’s five boroughs to police. Having worked in the city decades ago for Fox TV, I didn’t need reminding about how dangerous parts of the South Bronx could be. I truly cannot remember how many times my news crews were dispatched to shootings, stabbings and murders there.
As the way police are equipped in the UK was explained to the New York officers, a combination of admiration, shock and downright horror poured from them.
‘It’s not for us to tell your police how to do their jobs; they’re obviously seriously brave individuals. But, if you’re possibly going to be up against the worst there is, is it so much to ask to have some decent protection?’ asked another.
In Britain, more and more forces are coming round to offering Tasers to their officers, and a key meeting took place earlier this month in which the 43 police forces up and down the land decided to set up a small working party to report back on whether or not to mandate that all officers must routinely carry Tasers.
Some forces have already decided to proceed without waiting for a green light from the National Police Chiefs’ Council. Northamptonshire is rolling them out already, Kent and Hampshire are said to be not far behind, and Thames Valley is likely to follow suit.
However, concerned opponents and campaigning groups understandably point out that this represents a seismic shift in how the country is policed. We are justifiably proud of the fact that our officers are not routinely armed, and there is a fear this will dangerously change the dynamic. But pause for a moment and put yourself in the position of a couple of officers who do a routine stop of a vehicle, or who are called to what appears
to be little more than a domestic dispute. Then it suddenly turns ugly and the officers are threatened with a sword, baseball bat or pickaxe.
Right now, those officers could use a pepper spray, but often the wind can blow it straight back into their own faces. They could deploy their ASP – a rapidly extendable steel truncheon – but they have to get close enough to their attackers to make that a viable form of defence, and if they do use it, broken bones are almost certain to be the result.
Research shows just taking the Taser from the holster defuses the majority of situations and, indeed, on patrol with officers in London earlier this year when we were called to a pub fight, the moment the two officers arrived with Tasers merely attached to their belts, the melee halted abruptly.
Having been on patrol in New York with officers who have them, having been on a Taser training course, and having spoken with cops who’ve used them, tells me the time is now in Britain.
On many occasions, I was told that simply the light from the Taser gun and the red, or sometimes green, dot on the suspect’s chest is enough to resolve any situation.
When it comes to protecting our own officers, enough is enough. It is time for Tasers.
‘Research shows just taking the Taser from the holster defuses the majority of situations’