FAQ Details
Tasers - 4/12
Dated: 27 Jan 2012
Date of request: 02/01/2012
Date of response: 27/01/2012
Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')(FOIA)
Thank you for your email dated 2 January 2012 in which you made a request for access to certain information which may be held by Northumbria Police.
As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.
You asked:
Does your force possess Tasers and, if so, when did the force begin equipping officers with them?
How many times were Tasers used (i.e. actually fired) by your officers in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Please give figures separately (e.g 2009 - 2; 2010 - 5 and 2011 - 4). Obviously, I appreciate that, if your force does not have Taser or only received it recently, you will not be able to give figures for each year.
In response:
We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention.
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Operations Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police.
I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in as follows.
Yes, Northumbria Police do possess Tasers, these were brought in in 2005, with extended use from 2007.
Tasers were discharged as follows:-
2009 = 87
2010 = 58
2011 = 18You may also find information available via the Home Office website of interest, as they publish taser statistics to force level annually, the most recent report being published in March 2011. In order to aid assist you I have provided the relevant link below, please note that via this link a further link is included within the report for the previous publication.
The information we have supplied to you is likely to contain intellectual property rights of Northumbria Police. Your use of the information must be strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) or such other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not re-use this information for any commercial purpose.
How to complain
If you are unhappy with our decision or do not consider that we have handled your request properly and we are unable to resolve this issue informally, you are entitled to make a formal complaint to us under our complaints procedure which can be found at: http://www.northumbria.police.uk/foi/disclosurelog/foicomprights.asp
If you are still unhappy after we have investigated your complaint and reported to you the outcome, you may complain directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office and request that they investigate to ascertain whether we have dealt with your request in accordance with the Act.