Summary
KEVIN ROCHE'S thoughtful letter (November 24) about the police widening the use of Tasers asked whether this was not an acknowledgement that violent crime is on the increase.
It might be, but I suspect that is not the most interesting thing about it. A recent edition of Dispatches on Channel 4 explained how new health and safety legislation made police chiefs increasingly liable to be sued by injured officers, and that as a result there has been a tendency, wherever a force's lawyers think there might be a chance of officers getting hurt, to order them into full riot gear. Where once a tense situation might have been defused by good, sensible police work, without the need to deploy body armour, full- face helmets, night-sticks and riot shields, now officers turn up at perfectly legal demonstrations or house searches looking like Star Wars stormtroopers. I feel their appearance and behaviour has become more intimidating, heightening the risk of violence rather than reducing it, as we saw during the G20 debacle. I suspect the increased use of Tasers is more about keeping lawyers at bay than violent offenders.See the full content of this document
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Taser Theory ; Your Say...
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