Children’s commissioner asks police force to stop using Tasers

Scotland’s children’s champion has called for the country’s largest police force to scrap a pilot scheme which arms beat police officers with Taser guns.

Tam Baillie, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, said there were no restrictions or safeguards to protect under-18s from being subjected to the 50,000 volts that a Taser gun delivers. His call to suspend the pilot immediately follows warnings last month from Amnesty in Scotland, which said it was unlawful.

“Beat officers are being equipped with these potentially lethal weapons with no safeguards in place to protect children and no firm evidence of the physical and mental impacts of their use on under-18s,” said Mr Baillie.

“Tasers are potentially lethal – they have been linked to hundreds of adult deaths – and the UN has made it clear that their use on children is unacceptable.

“Arming beat officers with Tasers brings them into our communities, making them part of everyday life, and risks them being used in situations when lesser force would suffice. Police and Scottish ministers cannot wait until there is a Taser tragedy involving a child to take action on this.”

A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police confirmed the pilot had started on 20 April in two areas, Glasgow city centre and Cambuslang. “There are 30 officers trained in using Tasers, so at any one time there might be four [with Tasers] on duty,” she said. “The pilot project will last until October and will be independently evaluated.”

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