Big rise in taser use by county police
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 CED-trained 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.