LONDON — The police force in England and Wales risks "losing its
legitimacy" due to its disproportionate use of Taser electric shock
weapons against black people, a watchdog cautioned Wednesday.
اضافة اعلان
The warning comes just months after the high-profile
manslaughter trial of a former police officer over the death of black
ex-Premier League footballer Dalian Atkinson.
Atkinson died in 2016 after Benjamin Monk discharged his
Taser against him three times — once for 33 seconds — and kicked him twice in
the head.
He was sentenced to eight years jail in June.
In its report, the Independent Office for Police Conduct
(IOPC) said that "black people were disproportionately involved in our
independent investigations involving the use of Taser".
The report was based on 101
independent probes of incidents
involving Tasers carried out between 2015 and 2020 in England and Wales.
It found that 22 percent of the people Tasered were black
and 71 percent were white. The proportion of black people in England and Wales
is around three percent.
IOPC director general Michael Lockwood said Britain's ethnic
minorities "deserve a clear and transparent answer" on the
disproportionate use of Tasers against them.
"Policing has to change and be more responsive to
community concern or risk losing legitimacy in the eyes of the public," he
said.
The watchdog's warning comes on top of recent government
figures which revealed that black Britons are nine times more likely to be
stopped and searched than their white counterparts in England and Wales.
Ethnic minorities are also under-represented within the
police forces, particularly in senior ranks.
The IOPC also raised concerns about prolonged and repeated
use of Tasers, saying that almost a third of incidents could have been
de-escalated.
Lockwood added that police had a duty to justify the use of
Tasers to the public, particularly in cases involving children and people with
mental health problems.
Six of the 94 people in the cases examined were aged under
18.
Incidents involving Tasers have increased in recent years,
from 17,000 in 2017 to 2018 to around 32,000 in 2019 to 2020, according to
Britain's interior ministry.
The IOPC recommended improving police training and
increasing scrutiny of Taser use.
Read more
Region and World
.jpg)
.jpg)
