[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: An important principle to keep tasers off university campus: Following demands by students, the San Francisco State University president concludes that providing tasers to state security officers would not add anything positive to the general feeling of campus safety. This is consistent with San Francisco city police.]] Golden Gate Express, by Andrew […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: — A 17-year-old Texas student, Noe Nino de Rivera,,tasered in November 2013, who spent 52 days in a medically induced coma after police used a Taser on him at school entered a full-time rehabilitation facility Friday, his family’s attorney said. His parents have filed a lawsuit alleging their son never posed a […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS : African-American university student Everette Howard, Jr., 18, was tasered by campus police in August 2011. He died and a settlement has just been reached with the university of Cinncinati: $2-million as well as a moratorium on use of the taser by campus police. The coroner reported the official cause of 18-year-old […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENT: Student “wandering around the sixth floor residence who appeared to be in a hallucinogenic state” was tasered by San Jose State University police … as tasers become just another way of dealing with “unruly” behaviour … .]] Ktvu.com San Jose State University police used a Taser and pepper spray to subdue […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: This is the first reported use of tasers in South Africa – to quell an angry crowd of students in long line-ups, waiting to register. The South African Broadcasting Service (SABC) reported, according to this article, that “students started pushing each other, causing security guards to intervene with batons, pepper spray and […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS The death of an 18-year-old high school graduate after University of Cincinnati police used a Taser on him is likely to reopen an intense debate on whether or how the weapons should be allowed on college campuses. Yet since the last time that debate was had – following high-profile incidents at the […]
[[ SUMMARY / COMMENTS: Tasers were involved in three deaths over the weekend, renewing the debate over when and how the police-issued stun guns should be used – 3 over 3 days and still TASER Inc. claims “not us!”. Article discusses growing criticism of tasers]] A naked man on drugs died in Wisconsin this weekend, […]
[[ SUMMARY / COMMENTS: Everette Howard, from Cincinatti, went into cardiac arrest after being struck by the stun gun on Saturday after police were responding to reports of an assault. The 18-year-old, who was due to attend the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky, was said to have approached a campus police officer with […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: Another disturbing report of the use of tasers, and subsequent death, by on-campus police …: “Everette Howard went into cardiac arrest while being attended to by medics. He was rushed to University Hospital, where he could not be resuscitated.” They use tasers at the ùUniversity of Concinnati 5-6 times a year … […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: “Students of Cairo University on Thursday staged demonstrations in protest against military police using taser stun guns to disperse a sit-in by students of the faculty of mass communications.” Tasers – or is the term being used generically?]] Photographed by السيد الباز almasryalyoum.com, Abul Soud Mohamed , Waleed Magdy, Dalia Othman Students […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: On the first anniversary of Kofi Adu-Brempong being beaten, tasered and shot in the face by police, The Coalition for Justice Against Police Brutality organized a press conference a rally to demand action against the police officer. Kofi is a graduate student at the University of Florida, as well as being a […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: Students and other protesters, calling for democracy, are being tasered on the streets of Sanaa by Yemeni security forces and para-militaries. (See article on Egypt, a week earlier.) “[Security forces] attacked two demonstrators with electroshock tasers, witnesses told Human Rights Watch. Mizar Baggash Ghanem, a student leader at Sanaa University, told Human […]
Police bodyguards to be issued with stun guns to protect the Royals from protesters (2011-02-07)
[[GlobalShock: “Police officers protecting the Royal Family are being issued with controversial taser stun guns following the attack on Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, by student protesters last year.” The episode last year (see video link) was farcical: the Royal couple driving completely unnecessarily, escorted by police, into the middle of an angry demonstration of students against unviersity fees: “Off with their heads”, several shouted at the couple inside their Rolls-Royce, quite understandably.]]
Daily Telegraph, By Jason Lewis
The officers are to be given the “non-lethal” option to supplement the conventional firearms that they carry at all times while guarding VIPs.
Members of the Diplomatic Protection Squad, who guard the Prime Minister and other dignitaries, will also be issued with the stun guns which fire a dart into a suspect which can then deliver an electric charge of 50,000 volts.
The move follows widespread criticism of the actions of police bodyguards and their commanders after the Royal couple were attacked as they were driven through central London during violent tuition fee protests in December.
Armed protection officers remained in their vehicle and police outriders did not dismount from their motorcycles as the Royals were surrounded by as many as 20 demonstrators, chanting “Off with their heads” and “Tory scum”.
One window of the Rolls-Royce carrying the couple was smashed, the Duchess of Cornwall was poked with a stick.
Paint and dustbins were also thrown at the vehicle as it travelled down Regents Street on the way to the London Palladium for the Royal Variety Performance.
The image of the Duchess of Cornwall open-mouthed in shock as her limousine came under attack led to a review of the way the Royal Family is protected.
Asked whether the highly trained officers had considered opening fire on the protesters, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said they had shown “enormous restraint”.
But privately senior Metropolitan Police officers admit that they had been “virtually powerless” on the night the Royal couple were attacked.
The senior Royal protection officer on duty, Inspector Bob Fulton, was in the backup car cut off from the Royals by the crowd.
Police firearms rules prevented him from drawing his weapon, a standard issue ‘Glock’ pistol, unless “strictly proportionate” to protect the Royals from “violence which poses a real and immediate risk to life”.
The rules, drawn up by the Association of Chief Police Officers and amended last year, meant that even “pointing or aiming” a weapon at another person counts as “use” of a firearm.
Now, after a review of the Royal Protection Squad’s procedures, commanders have been told to use the option to arm officers with X26 Tasers to allow “informed decisions on firearms deployment”.
It is understood a new Strategic Threat and Risk Assessment suggests the weapons should be regularly issued to close protection teams. Tasers have a range of 21 feet and can be also used to deliver an electric shock to an assailant at close quarters.
Until recently, S014, the royal protection squad, had 20 Tasers but had only been issuing them to officers at “static protection posts on Royal premises”. It is understood the squad had opted out of issuing the stun guns to officers on close protection duties.
Diplomatic Protection officers from SO16 had also been using the weapons for “static protection posts and mobile patrols around diplomatic premises in Central London”.
Now new police guidance says that “the availability of less lethal weapons and tactical options are intended to provide officers, including those issued with conventional firearms, with a ‘differentiated use of force and firearms’.
“Less lethal weapons will, where appropriate, be deployed alongside conventional firearms and other less lethal technologies and options available to firearms officers.”
Last night a Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed “all armed units” in the Metropolitan Police now had “access to this less lethal option”.
The spokesman added: “A decision was made that carriage of Taser when required should no longer be an option.”
Last night former Royal Protection Officer Inspector Ken Wharfe, who was in charge of the security of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Prince William and Harry when they were children, questioned the thinking behind the decision to deploy Tasers in this way.
He said: “The Taser is ideally suited for dealing with disturbed people in a domestic environment. “Carrying a Taser will lead to confusion about which weapon to use.
“A Taser will just complicate issues and it is another piece of equipment which somebody has got to handle. When you are in a protection environment you want the least amount of kit possible.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8306051/Police-bodyguards-to-be-issued-with-stun-guns-to-protect-the-Royals-from-protesters.html
[[GlobalShock: Students protest fee-hikes: “Strike police dislodged the students with full force, using tear gas, pepper spray and wielding batons and Taser guns, arresting seven, six of whom were later released without charges.” (in bold in post)]] Huffington Post, by Maritza Stanblich The imposition of student fees appears imminent at University of Puerto Rico despite […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: Two University students and a Eugene man were arrested at a downtown rally Friday afternoon on various charges, including resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, after police officers’ use of a Taser on one provoked angry reactions from the other two. ]] Oregon Daily Emerald, by Jill Kimball Two University students and a […]