Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 18 May 2009.
Vernon Coaker
Minister of State (Home Office) (Policing, Crime & Security)
2:30,
18 May 2009
To reassure my hon. Friend, I have said to the Joint Committee on Human Rights that Tasers should not be used in public order control situations, and Tasers were not used during the G20 demonstrations. Officers equipped with Tasers raided a residence in an operation to arrest individuals suspected of criminal damage at the G20 protest. My hon. Friend makes an important point, however: there is a right to protest in this country, and Tasers are not appropriate for use in controlling such demonstrations.
Annotations
Richard Taylor
Posted on 29 May 2009 1:14 am (Report this annotation)
I am happy that the minister has made clear his view that TASER ought not be used in crowd control situations.
TASER International, the company which supplies the UK police with TASER weapons, is currently promoting its “Shockwave” TASER array system specifically for use in public order situations. I am relieved by the implication in this answer that the UK will not be buying any of these weapons.
http://www.taser.com/products/law/Pages/ShockwaveLE.aspx
http://www.taser.org.uk/taser/uk-minister-rules-out-taser-ar...
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Richard Taylor Cambridge http://www.rtaylor.co.uk