Hundreds more police to be armed with Tasers after funding boost

HAMPSHIRE and Dorset police forces are set to buy more than 380 Tasers after they were awarded extra funding.

Of the two constabularies, Dorset was the biggest winner, receiving £259,875 to buy 315 new Tasers, with Hampshire awarded £55,275 to acquire 67.

The move was welcomed by Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Michael Lane and Anna Harvey, the chairman of the Dorset Police Federation which represents the rank and file.

“Police officers confront risk daily as part of frontline duty, so all who need and wish for this support should have it to keep them safer, as their duty keeps us all safer,” Mr Lane said.

His office pointed out Hampshire’s number was lower as Mr Lane bought tasers in 2018 with £80,000 of force funds. That followed requests from, among others, the chief constable.

A spokeswoman added: “This additional funding from central government is very welcome, to ensure that every officer who wants, has a clear operational need and has passed the training required to be able to carry a Taser should get one.”

Meanwhile, Ms Harvey tweeted: “I am delighted that Dorset has been allocated this extra funding for the Taser uplift. This will not only provide officers with an essential piece of kit that will help them deal with violent incidents but will protect the public.”

There have been repeated calls by local police chiefs for more government funding for police equipment and pay rises for officers, including Dorset Chief Constable James Vaughan.

The money has been pledged by the Home Office which is providing £10m of centrally funded money towards equipment needed by police.

It launched a bidding process inviting the PCCs of all 43 UK forces to request an amount of money from a dedicated, ring-fenced fund. Of those, 41 made applications.

The total number or Tasers asked for by PCCs was 8,155 at a cost of £6.7m – a third under the total amount originally budgeted by the government.

Provision has also been made to support the training of Taser instructors, with some £150,000 being allocated for this, and the remainder of the £10m being used to tackle serious violence and county lines drug gangs.

The scheme was backed by the National Police Federation – headed by John Apter, the former leader of the Hampshire federation who is known as a firm advocate of Tasers.

“Taser is an essential piece of equipment which has saved many police officers and members of the public from serious injury or worse,” he said.

“I have campaigned for ring-fenced funding for more colleagues to have access to Taser and it’s refreshing that the Home Secretary [the under-fire Priti Patel] has listened and acted.

Mr Apter went on: “This was a unique opportunity for forces to secure extra protections without shouldering the majority of the cost. I would have liked to have seen every penny of the £10m funding used to fund more Tasers.

“At a time when officer safety is dominating the headlines, I am surprised that some forces chose not to take advantage of this extra funding.”