UK: Use of tasers by police to be exteneded
01 August 2007
Defence Scientific Advisory Council (DSAC) Sub-Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-lethal Weapons (DOMILL):
Statement on the medical implications of M26 and X26 Taser use at incidents where firearms Weapons (pdf)
Ministerial statement (pdf)
Police use of Firearms and Less Lethal Weapons: Code of practice (December 2003) (pdf) The DSAC report identifies that there is likely that: "the numbers of people subjected to Taser will increase" which:
"will result in a greater annual incidence of minor injuries and a greater, but still low, chance of a serious adverse event". The Sub-Committee is particularly concerned about the use of tasers on children and small adults:
"children and adults of small stature [are] at potentially greater risk from the cardiac effects of Taser currents than normal adults of average or larger structure"