Changes to the deployment of Tasers to be examined
10th August 2020
The Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel has today announced it will be reviewing the proposed changes to the deployment of Tasers by the States of Jersey Police that have been brought forward by the Minister for Home Affairs.
If adopted by the States Assembly, P.97/2020 Deployment and use of Energy Conductive Devices (Tasers) by the States of Jersey Police would change the manner in which a Taser could be deployed by a States of Jersey Police Force Officer. At present, only a firearms trained officer under the authority of a senior officer is able to deploy a Taser. The proposed changes would allow for uniformed police officers, who had completed a Taser course to the national standard, to carry and deploy a Taser without a specific firearms authority.
The Panel will therefore be reviewing the rationale and evidence put forward for the proposed changes as well as what consideration has been given to the wider impact the changes would have on policing in Jersey. The Panel is interested to gather views on the proposed changes and would like to invite members of the public to get in touch via scrutiny@gov.je with their views by Monday 7th September. The Panel will also be writing to a number of targeted stakeholders in order to gather their views.
Deputy Rob Ward, Chair of the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel commented:
''This is a significant change to the way in which policing is undertaken in Jersey and it is vital that the proposals are examined in detail to clearly identify the rationale and evidence behind them. The Panel is also seeking to identify whether there could be any potential knock-on effects that the proposals could have on policing in the Island. We are very interested to hear the views of members of the public on this matter and we shall also be engaging with a variety of targeted stakeholders in the community to help inform the review."
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