CHIEF officers have been told to \u201cstop pussyfooting around\u201d and increase the number of Tasers available to police officers.<\/p>\n
Nigel Goodband, Chairman of the British Transport Police Federation, made the plea at the body\u2019s Annual Conference in Cardiff.\u00a0He told delegates, Chief Officers and Transport Minister Chris Grayling: \u201cMore officers carrying Taser will reduce injury, but all we see is too much hand wringing. Taser is not a lethal weapon. It is a proven defensive asset.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/em><\/p>\n Data from the 43 Home Office Forces and BTP shows \u201coverwhelmingly that officers who carry Taser are much less likely to be assaulted\u201d, said Mr Goodband (pictured).<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThe simple presence of Taser is sufficient to quell most violence. Many may be surprised to learn that Taser is still rarely used. The threat of Taser is usually enough to prevent injury to both the public and the police.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is in the interests of the Government, the BTP and most of all the fare-paying public, that we all work together to reduce violence, reduce assaults and reduce injuries. Fewer injuries means less sickness and that equates to more officers being there to protect the public.\u201d<\/p>\n Too many officers are being punched, spat at, bitten and attacked with knives, machetes and guns, he added. Mr Goodband called for the minister to \u201cprotect the protectors\u201d \u2013 adding that a police officer is assaulted every four minutes in the UK.<\/p>\n Greater use of body-worn cameras would also provide more protection for officers, the conference heard.<\/p>\n Mr Goodband told Chief Constable Paul Crowther: \u201cWe are very grateful to you for already agreeing to the use of spit guards. Their availability will greatly help. Please let us now look at body cams. They provide best evidence. They act as a deterrent. They protect officers from malicious complaints and they offer public reassurance.<\/p>\n \u201cYou must provide better protection for the officers you employ so they can better protect the public they serve. Quite simply, officers need personal protective equipment that will quickly end violent confrontations; something that will cause even the most hardened offender to think twice; something that has a proven track record of preventing an escalation of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CHIEF officers have been told to \u201cstop pussyfooting around\u201d and increase the number of Tasers available to police officers. Nigel Goodband, Chairman of the British Transport Police Federation, made the\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3428"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3431,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3428\/revisions\/3431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}