Taser use by the police has nearly tripled in a year

Home Office figures revealed for county police force

TASER use by police in Leicestershire has nearly tripled in just over a year.

New Home Office figures, show there were 242 uses of conducted energy devices (CEDs) such as tasers in the police force area in 2017/18.

This was a rate of 2.2 uses per 10,000 people in the area, which compares to 2.9 per 10,000 across England.

Police in Leicestershire discharged CEDs on 22 occasions, firing them 20 times, and angle drive stunning people twice.

The rest of the uses did not involve discharges and are were officers draw, aim or activate the red-dot targeting on the CED.

Use of CEDs in Leicestershire in 2017/18 was 169% higher than in 2016, the last figures available, when there were 90 uses.

The number of discharges of CEDs was up by 83%, from 12 in 2016.

The Home Office said the increase in CED use compared to the previous reporting year is in line with the overall trend of increasing CED use, and may reflect more CEDtrained officers or officers dealing with more incidents with the potential for conflict.

However, this latest rise may not be entirely explained by a real increase in police using CEDs, and may be partially accounted for by an increase in the recording of CED use due to improved, simpler methods of recording.

Overall, the figures show officers from Leicestershire Police used force 3,869 times in 2017/18.

National figures suggest most of these incidents will have been use of restraints like handcuffs, but they also include use of batons, CS spray, tasers and dogs.

The number of uses of force equates to 36 uses per 10,000 people living in the area - lower than the England and Wales rate of 53 uses per 10,000 people.

This is the first year all police forces in the UK have been required to record data on the use of force.

The number of uses is likely to be higher, with the Home Office saying many police forces were unable to record data for all variables, and not all incidents in the reporting period were recorded.

There were 313,000 recorded incidents where a police officer used force on an individual in England and Wales in 2017/18.

Handcuffing was the most commonly used tactic, recorded in seven out

of every ten incidents (70%; 219,000 incidents). Unarmed skills and other restraint tactics (ground restraint, limb/body restraints) were the next most frequently reported tactics.

More than half of the use of force incidents recorded involved subjects who were perceived as being between 18 to 34 years old

(164,000 incidents, 52%), while 9% of incidents involved subjects perceived as under 18 years old.

Four out of every five of the use of force incidents recorded involved subjects who were perceived as male (81% or 254,000 incidents).

Police were four times more likely to use force against black people, who were involved in 12% of incidents but make up 3.3% of the population.

A quarter of incidents involving firearms (26%) involved a black person, while 12% involved Asian people, who make up 7.5% of the population. A fifth of uses of less lethal weapons, such as CEDs, involves a black person.

One in eight uses of force (13%) involved someone who was perceived as having mental health problems.

Across all reported incidents, the most commonly reported reasons for using force were for protection or to assist in making an arrest.

Using force as a means of protection most commonly involved the officer protecting themselves or other officers, but also included officers protecting the public and the subject.

Police recorded alcohol as a factor in 127,000 incidents, drugs as a factor in 85,000, and the subjects size, gender or build as a factor in 79,000 incidents.

The most common outcome across all incidents was that someone was arrested, which happened 203,000 times. People were detained under the Mental Health Act on 12,000 occasions, hospitalised 11,000 times, and escaped on 3,100 occasions.

Across England and Wales, CEDs were used in 17,084 incidents, although

in 85% of these incidents the CED was not discharged.

Police in discharged CEDs on 2,004 occasions, firing them 1,872 times drive stunning someone 62 times, and using angle drive-stuns 70 times.

Use of CEDs in in 2017/18 was 51% higher than in 2016, the last figures available, when there were 11,303 uses.

The number of discharges of CEDs was up by 5%, from 1,905 in 2016.