New Taser funding to give police officers in Atherstone and district 'what they asked for'

Atherstone and district will get its "fair share" of an 8,000 uplift of Tasers on the streets of England and Wales as part of a £6.5 million Home Office investment in the stun guns.

Some 41 forces, including Warwickshire, "got what they asked for", according to Police Federation chairman John Apter.

And Atherstone-based officers will benefit from the new devices being made available to policing in north Warwickshire.

Roads policing and firearms units deployed in the district already have the devices but now training will be afforded to give officers from Atherstone and its neighbouring areas the "benefit from more access in future", promised Warwickshire Police Federation chairman Simon Page.

Across the county some 72 extra Tasers were bid for by Warwickshire Police, and Home Secretary Priti Patel said the near £60,000 funding request was being met to "ensure forces have the powers, resources and tools they need to keep themselves and the public safe".

She added: "Our brave police officers put themselves in harm's way to protect us all and Taser is a vital option in dangerous situations."

Countrywide a total of 7,923 were sought by police and crime commissioners at a cost of £6.5m – a third under the total amount originally budgeted by the Government. The new money is intended to cover until March 2021.

Provision has also been made to support the training of Taser instructors with some £150,000 being allocated for this, with the remainder of the ring-fenced £10m being used to tackle serious violence and county lines drug gangs.

Only two out of 43 forces – North Yorkshire and Staffordshire – did not seek an uplift while Surrey and Sussex; and Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire forces submitted joint bids.

The Met Police received its allocation of 2,382 costing almost £2m while the Lancashire force was the second biggest receiver at 380 Tasers, with a total funding of £313,000.

National federation leader Mr Apter added: "I am pleased to see the £10m ring fenced funding for Taser we lobbied for is now being allocated.

"But I struggle to understand why some forces didn't bid for any as I received a message from the Home Office that every force which made a bid got what they asked for."

In January, it was revealed that the highest number of Tasers on record were fired by police during a 12-month recording period between 2018/19 – a total of 2,500 occasions.

Official figures published last year demonstrated a 27 per cent rise in the number of assaults on PCs resulting in injury since 2018. This included the death of Thames Valley PC Andrew Harper, 28, who was killed in August while responding to reports of a burglary in Berkshire and in the same month, PC Gareth Phillips, a 42-year-old West Midlands Police traffic officer, suffered life-changing injuries when he was run over by a suspected car thief in Birmingham.