Police Scotland confirm four-fold increase in Taser officers

Police Scotland have confirmed plans for a four-fold increase in Taser officers in response to a rising number of assaults on frontline staff.

Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said the move also followed a spike in incidents involving weapons.

Specially Trained Officers (STO) numbers will increase from about 500 to 2,000 over the next three years.

Mr Livingstone detailed the move in a report for the Scottish Police Authority, which meets on Wednesday.

He said it followed an "extensive engagement" with stakeholders including the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc), Amnesty International, Autism Scotland and Epilepsy Scotland.

Last year saw a 6.3% increase in the number of assaults, with 6,942 attacks recorded on officers and staff.

More than 1,000 assaults on police in 2020/21 involved spitting or coughing or were otherwise linked to Covid.

• 'No plans' to give more Scottish police officers guns

• More than 1,000 coronavirus-related attacks on police

Mr Livingstone's report for the SPA states: "The revised model is being introduced in response to a Strategic Risk Assessment which identified that in recent years, there has been a gradual but sustained increase in the number of assaults on officers and staff in Scotland, along with a rise in incidents involving weapons.

"The increase in STO capability will enhance our capability to deal with significant threats to public safety in a responsive and proportionate manner, and provide our people with the tools they need to do their job as safely as possible."

Under the plans, an additional 350 STOs will undergo training between now and March.

The plan was proposed in January and was followed by a consultation process.

A recent report for the SPA's Policing Performance Committee said feedback had been "generally positive and supportive".

Amnesty International raised concerns over the potential use of the stun guns to inflict pain, specifically though direct contact with the Taser rather than through its projectile probes.

The force told the human rights group it does not specifically teach this tactic and has never used a Taser in this manner, which is recognised as a last resort.

Police Scotland also confirmed Autism Scotland and Epilepsy Scotland had been invited to its Jackton complex in East Kilbride.

The charities will review training content and advise on guidance for dealing with people with such conditions.

Police Scotland said it plans to increase the number of Taser-trained officers by 1,500 over the next three years

Since their introduction in 2018, Tasers have only been fired 115 times by police in Scotland, although 51 of those incidents were recorded in 2020/21.

The presence of the weapon alone is often enough to resolve confrontations and police said 88% of incidents do not require discharge.

Earlier this month, Police Scotland - which is the UK's second-largest force - said it had no plans to arm more officers, despite a survey suggesting more than half would like to have a handgun.

The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) asked officers to rank what extra equipment they wanted to carry.

Carrying a Taser was the top choice, with 84% of respondents wanting to be equipped with one.

The same percentage of officers said that they would also like a body-worn camera.

Knife fears

The SPF, which represents rank-and-file officers, said it had received 1,698 responses to the survey - equating to about 10% of police officers.

Almost a quarter (22%) said they had been assaulted while working in the past three months and 40% had been attacked in the previous year.

The survey found knives remained the biggest perceived threat.

In 2019, Scotland's police watchdog ruled an officer's use of a Taser on a man outside a Bannockburn pub was not "reasonable or necessary".

The Pirc said the officer should undergo refresher training and reassessment in the use of the weapon as the 28-year-old man did not appear to be "posing any imminent threat to officers".

Last year, police officers called to a Glasgow hotel where six people were injured in a stabbing incident used a Taser in an attempt to disable the attacker before he was shot dead.

Meanwhile, next month is expected to see the biggest ever deployment of armed officers in Scotland when world leaders arrive in Glasgow for COP26.

Operation Urram (Gaelic for respect) will see a total of 10,000 officers deployed on each day of UN climate change conference at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC).