Police leaders to begin bidding for more tasers

Courtesy Home Office

Police and Crime Commissioners across England and Wales can start bidding today to equip more of their officers with tasers as part of a Home Office drive to give police more powers and tools to tackle crime.

This follows the Home Secretary’s commitment to put more officers carrying tasers on our streets through a £10 million ring fenced fund, allowing them to better protect themselves and others from harm.

Bidding will open on a new online platform launched by the Home Office, where forces will decide how much funding they apply for based on the threat and risk in their local area.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: "Our brave police officers put themselves in harm’s way to protect us and I am committed to giving them the tools they need to keep themselves and the public safe.

"The rise in assaults on officers is appalling which is why I am providing funding to equip up to 10,000 more officers with tasers - an important tactical option when facing potentially physically violent situations."

Police and Crime Commissioners will need to outline how many additional officers they plan to train to use tasers. The final funding allocations for forces, which cover 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021, will be announced in February.

This comes after a series of announcements supporting the police, including a commitment to boost their ranks with 20,000 new officers over the next three years and increased stop and search powers. The government also plans to consult on increasing the maximum sentence for assaulting police officers and other emergency service workers, to ensure jail terms truly fit the crime.

A new Police Powers and Protection Bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech which will provide the police with additional powers to protect the public and establish a police covenant, ensuring officers and their families get the right emotional and physical support.