Tasers figures show weapons rarely fired in Lancashire

Police in Lancashire drew their Tasers 151 times last year but did not use them on the majority of occasions.
Tasers are rarely fired by Lancashire PoliceTasers are rarely fired by Lancashire Police
Tasers are rarely fired by Lancashire Police

Officers in the county only fired their Taser on 36 occasions, meaning that 76 per cent of the time the weapon was not used.

The total use figure rose slightly between 2015 and 2016 but the weapon was only used on one more occasion.

Nationally the number of times a weapon was fired dropped.

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The Police Federation, which represents serving officersays the statistics are poof Taser weapons work as a deterrent.

The union has called for more officers to be equipped with the guns.

A spokesman said:“There has been a fall in the number of times Taser was discharged, which demonstrates that each use of Taser is proportionate to the manner and threats faced by officers.

“More than 80 per cent of uses were non-discharges – with the number of red-dot uses making up more than half of all Taser usage.

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“This shows that by virtue of possession of a Taser, police officers are gaining compliance of members of the public.

“This is further evidence that greater roll-out of Taser across the service would be beneficial.”

Greater Manchester accounted for the highest number of Taser incidents in the North West with a total of 799 occasions when the weapon was drawn or used.

That compared with a figure of more than for the 2,000 for the Metropolitan Police, charged with patroling London.