Richard Taylor

Meeting A TASER Sales Rep

On Wednesday the 24th of October 2012, Richard M Jones, the sales manager for Tactical Safety Responses Limited, the sole UK distributor for TASER weapons, visited me at my home in Cambridge. Richard Jones had told me that as someone who regularly comments on UK Police TASER use he and his company wanted to help […]

November 6, 2012
Debating UK Police TASER use on BBC Radio Wales

On the 24th of September 2012 I went on BBC Radio Wales to argue against the arming of all front-line police in the UK with TASER weapons. The decision on arming the police with TASER on a routine basis is one for society as a whole, and not just for the police. It’s a decision […]

October 7, 2012
Responding to Police Federation Calls for All Officers to be TASER Armed

One of the major stories on BBC South East Today on the 26th of June 2012 was on the call by the Police Federation (which represents police officers) for all front-line police officers to be armed with TASER weapons. On the 25th of June 2012 the Police Federation released a letter they had written to […]

June 27, 2012
Cambridge Police Commander Skeels on TASERs and Knives

Superintendent Vicky Skeels, Police Commander for Cambridge The latest Star Radio Police Podcast is an interview with Superintendent Vicky Skeels, the new area commander for Cambridge. Following operation redesign Cambridgeshire Police has aligned its organisational structure to the local authority areas. As I understand it Skeels took on the role in January 2012 but the […]

March 9, 2012
120 Non-Firearms Officers to be TASER Trained in Cambridgeshire

TASER armed officer in the UK Further details of Cambridgeshire Police’s plans to expand TASER deployment have been published. The Chief Constable intends to train one hundred and twenty non-firearms officers to use the weapons. That’s just over one in ten of the force’s 1011 constables. A paper from Cambridgeshire Police’s Chief Constable to Cambridgeshire […]

January 11, 2012
Cambs Chief Constable Would Overrule Police Authority on TASER Deployment

Police Officer Carrying a TASER A full meeting of Cambridgeshire Police Authority held on the 20th of December 2011 began debating proposals from Chief Constable Simon Parr to expand the force’s TASER use. I attended the meeting and used the public speaking slot. My statement: I hope when the force’s proposed changes to TASER policy […]

December 20, 2011
Cambridgeshire Police Propose More TASER Trained Officers

TASER armed officer on duty outside a pasty shop in Padstow, Cornwall. TASER use by Cambridgeshire police is currently restricted to their Tactical Firearms Unit. I support this as I am concerned that having officers routinely armed with TASER will damage the relationship between the police and the public and will lead to an escalation […]

December 16, 2011
Large Rise in UK Police TASER Use

TASER armed officer on duty outside a pasty shop in Padstow, Cornwall. Channel Four News are this evening reporting the results of a survey of TASER use by UK Police Forces which they have carried out via Freedom of Information requests. They have uncovered a 100% increase in TASER use in Cambridgeshire in 20010/11 compared […]

December 1, 2011
Prodding the Home Office to Resume Publishing Statistics on TASER use by the Police

Statistics on the use of TASER weapons by the UK police used to be published quarterly by the Home Office. This routine pro-active publication has stopped and the latest published data available at the time of writing is from September 2009*; it is well over a year old. I have been chasing the Home Office […]

January 31, 2011
Revelations Made and Questions Raised at the Home Affairs Select Committee TASER Session

On the 7th of December Cambridge MP Julian Huppert and his fellow members of the Home Affairs Select Committee held a session on the police use of TASER weapons. I wrote an article prior to the meeting in which I suggested a number of questions it might be worth asking of the Chief Police Officers […]

December 14, 2010