Research - Children's Rights Alliance for England - Tasers and Children’s Rights - 10 August 2020

Children s rights and policing: Tasers and children s rights

1. Introduction  In 2016 when the UN Committee on the Rights This briefing gives an overview of children s rights  of the Child last examined the UK, on how well and the use of Tasers by the police. As well as  it is meeting it children's rights obligations, providing some background information on Tasers  it made a clear recommendation that the use

and outlining the health risks associated with their  of Taser on children should be prohibited

use, it also sets out the latest national data on Taser  because of concerns of its impact on children s deployment on children and highlights figures that  physical and mental health. 4 This followed

show disproportionate use on children from Black,  concerns raised by the UN Committee against

Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups.  Torture in 2013 that  the use of these weapons causes

severe pain constituting a form of torture, and that What are Tasers?  in some cases it may even cause death .5 After its

most recent examination of the UK, in May 2019,

Ta Che Conducollege of Pted Enerolicing descrgy Device (ibes the use of CED or Taser) as  it raised concern  about the reported increase in

a less lethal weapon system designed to  their use, including on children and young people temporarily incapacitate a subject through use of  and, recommended that the UK   .provide clear

presumptions against the use of Tasers on vulnerable an elecwith the bodytrical curs neurrent which tomuscular systemporarem and ily interferes  groups, such as children and young people, investigate

produces a sensation of intense pain.1 Amnesty  the causes for their disproportionate use against International has argued that they should not  members of minorities and prohibit their use in drive be described as less-lethal because they can still  stun mode  6

 cause serious injury or even death .2

2. Children s rights and use of Tasers

Children are not mini-adults. The UN bodies, which enforce human rights standards, have recognised that they must be treated differently because of their unique situation children have distinct vulnerabilities, greater developmental needs and evolving capacities. This, when combined with the reality of having less power than adults, and often not being taken seriously, means they must be treated differently when they come into contact with the criminal justice system.

Like all public institutions, the police are bound

by children s human rights standards. In 2015, the

National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) published

Child Centred Policing (the first national strategy for

the policing of children and young people) which

emphasised that:  it is crucial that in all encounters  3. Impact of Tasers on children

with the police, those below the age of 18 should be  Tasers can inflict intolerable pain. Adults in Canada treated as children first. All officers must have regard  and the US have died after incidents where Taser

to their safety, welfare and wellbeing as required under has been used and their role in the deaths of adults [...] the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 3 in England is being investigated. The Metropolitan

Police Commissioner (MPC) has herself described Tasers as a  very powerful bit of kit also potentially very dangerous .7

Thompson Reuters have mapped 1081 deaths involving Taser in the USA including nine children. They explain how the safety warnings that Taser International have issued to police using its stun guns have expanded dramatically over the past two decades, growing from a handful of paragraphs to eight pages. The research raises concern that many of those who die are among society s vulnerable

unarmed, in psychological distress and seeking help.8

There is a worrying lack of research into the risks of using Tasers on children and the physical and mental damage they can cause but the research that is available highlights that children are at an elevated risk of harm.9

Concerningly, in March 2017, the Government announced that a new generation of more

powerful, double shot Taser X2 had been authorised for roll-out across police forces in England. The SACMILL statement states that the probes in

the new Taser X2 are lighter but faster than the probes in the Taser X26 and, as a result, could more effectively penetrate clothing or skin when fired

at comparable distances resulting in a greater

risk of deeper tissue penetration of the probe. SACMILL recommend further studies to explore the injury potential of both types of Taser.11 This is particularly relevant to children who are more likely to have a smaller body mass index than adults and consequently there is the potential to penetrate deeply into the skin more easily.

Most recently, Axon, the US company that develops Taser, have launched its latest version, the Taser 7. Axon claims it to be the most effective yet; faster, with darts that fly out straighter and more rapidly for better and more accurate attachment to the body.12 Again, we are not aware of any research on the potential harm to children by this new model.

Children have told us that the threat of violence from police carrying Tasers is really frightening With one child stating:  I just saw the little dot there and I just went all warm, scared. I thought I m going to get hurt now, I m going to get a shock in a minute. They just stunned him [his friend] and he was flopped on the floor. 13

Even when Tasers are not actually fired, the threat of a police officer drawing a weapon is extremely disturbing for children and young people - particularly as the children who typically come

into contact with the police are some of the most vulnerable in our society: Many have experienced abuse or violence, are victims of criminal exploitation, have Special Educational Needs (SEN) or have serious mental health conditions.

Importantly, the SACMILL statement highlighted that the longer-term psychological implications of exposure to an extremely painful Taser discharge, especially among children, remains unexplored.14

Types of Taser use15

The way a Taser is used by police officers is categorised into a range of escalating actions from drawing the device, through to it being discharged (i.e. fired, drive stunned or angled drive-stunned). Any one of these actions is categorised as a use.

Drawn: Drawing of Taser in circumstances where any person could reasonably perceive the action as a use of force.

Aimed: Deliberate aiming of the Taser at a targeted subject.

Red dot: The weapon is not fired. Instead, the Taser is deliberately aimed and then partially activated so that a laser red dot is placed onto the subject.

Arcing: Sparking of the Taser as a visible deterrent without aiming it or firing it.

Fired: The Taser is discharged with a live cartridge installed. When the trigger is pulled, the probes are fired towards the subject with the intention of completing an electrical circuit and delivering an incapacitating effect.

Angled Drive Stun: The officer discharges the weapon with a live cartridge installed. One or both probes may attach to the subject. The officer then holds the Taser against the subject s body in a different area to the probe(s), in order to complete the electrical circuit and deliver an incapacitating effect.

Drive stun: As a last resort, the Taser is held against the subject s body without a live cartridge installed, and the trigger is pulled with no probes being fired. Contact with the subject completes the electrical circuit which causes pain but does not deliver an incapacitating effect.

4. Taser usage on children

Due to the potential risks involved in using Taser on children, the police must closely adhere to

the safeguards set out in human rights law. The protection against violence and harm in the

CRC and other human rights laws mean police officers should only ever use Taser on children when it is  proportionate, lawful, accountable and absolutely necessary (PLAN) .16 as set out in the

College of Policing s Authorised Professional Practice. For example, in situations where an officer has reason to believe they may have to protect

the public, themselves, and/or the child or young person from serious violence or threats of serious violence. The NPCC is currently undertaking a personal safety review part of which will look at whether Tasers do in fact help protect officers

after it was acknowledged that a Taser is not the answer to all violent and threatening situations.17

It is unclear at this stage, the remit of the review in relation to Taser use, particularly on children.

Officers must also consider other, less dangerous options before resorting to the use of Taser and must be able to justify why these options were discounted. However, our research and Home Office statistics show that Taser use on children has been increasing year on year with more dramatic surges in recent years.

CRAE Freedom of Information (FOI) requests revealed that there were at least 519 uses in 2016 (an increase of 25% from 2013 when they were used at least 431 times).

However, the latest Home Office statistics show that between April 2018 and March 2019, Taser was used on children in England and Wales 1,700 times including 29 times on children under 11.18 This amounts to over 8% of the total 23,000 times a Taser was used on people during this period.19

Although it is difficult to get data on the specific age of children who have had Tasers used on them due to a lack of publicly available statistics, we know that the police are using Tasers on younger children. Our FOIs show that Tasers have been used on 10, 11 and 12 year olds.

A 2014 report by the then police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), raised concerns about the use of Tasers on people who are particularly vulnerable, including children. The IPCC concluded that  it is clear that the use of Taser has widened considerably not only in terms of the number of police officers using it, but also in terms of its use in circumstances where it would not have been used in the past. 20Despite this report, our research also suggests that the situations in which Taser is used on children has widened. Reason for use given in response to our 2018 FOIs ranged from to effect arrest to avoid escape .

The latest Home Office statistics for April  We are extremely concerned that with increasing 2018-March 2019 show that after the MET police  numbers of officers armed with Taser, they will

with 783 uses on children, Greater Manchester  not be used on children as a last resort. This will Police had the highest use of Taser on children  inevitably have damaging repercussions.

using them 110 times on children 11-17 and 8 times

on children 0-11. 5. Taser use on children in London

The London Assembly23 has previously criticised the Other forces such as Avon and Somerset Police  Metropolitan Police (MPS) and the former Mayor

had the second highest with 63 uses, Leicestershire  of London for tripling the number of Taser-armed Police were the third with 59 and West Yorkshire  officers without providing compelling evidence Constabulary had the fourth highest with 50.  of need. Back in 2014, Baroness Jenny Jones raised

The police forces who have not used a Taser on  concern that  the use of Tasers is fast becoming a

a child in the same period include: Norwich,  regular part of policing in London...My fear has always Staffordshire, Suffolk and West Mercia.  been that the more Tasers we have on our streets

the more chances there are of mistakes being made, Even though concern has been raised about the  making people less safe.'24 Yet Tasers are being rolled increasing use of Taser on children, more police  out to more and more police officers in the capital. officers are armed with Tasers than ever before and,  Prior to the latest uplift announcement, Tasers in following the recent Home Office announcement  use in London had already risen by 50 per cent over

of £10 million for Taser uplift, the number of officers  the last two years to 6,50025.

carrying the devices will increase further still.21

This additional funding for Taser uplift was made  Sian Berry, Co-Leader of the Green Party and

without public consultation. In response, Martyn  London Assembly Member, has also been an Underhill, the Association of Police and Crime  avid critic of the MPS for their roll-out of Tasers Commissioners (PCCs) lead for use of force, said:  to most front-line officers because of the lack of

 We have a long-established principle of policing by  accountability and potential use on children.26

consent in this country, so it is important that the  In June 2017, the Commissioner of the

public continues to be consulted on any changes to  Metropolitan Police announced that more

police deployment of this nature . Concern was also  officers will be trained and armed with

raised by the Chair of the National Police Chief s  Taser in London and in September 2019, the Council, who highlighted that Support for the  Commissioner again announced a further uplift weapons among police chiefs varies, with some fearing in Tasers.27 These last two uplifts in the capital were that their increased use damages public relations and  made without public or stakeholder consultation, undermines the unarmed nature of British policing .22  despite an MPS Firearms and Taser Reference Group

being in place.

Taser usage on children in London - Level of force used

Arced

Drive Stun

Aimed

Drawn

Fired

Red Dotted

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

2018 (Jan-Dec) 2019 (Jan-Oct)

Source: Use of force statistics published by the Metropolitan Police Service

CRAE s research raises questions about mission- creep and the use of Taser because it is available, rather than because it is necessary or proportionate. Our figures show that MPS officers are increasingly using Taser on children. In 2008, after the devices were introduced, officers used them on children nine times. This compares to the period April 2018 March 2019 where there were 783 uses

of Taser on children. In the first 10 months of 2019, there were already 1009 uses of Taser on children. Of those uses, children were red dotted 509 times. The red-dotting advanced warning mechanism before firing is still a disturbing and frightening ordeal for children because, even though in a lot of cases it may not lead to the Taser being fired, children have told us this is a traumatic experience. Alarmingly, children were fired at 32 times.28

Disproportionate use on BAME children

The overuse of Taser on BAME children is particularly concerning. In the first 10 months

of 2019, nearly 74% of Taser use by the MPS was on BAME children. Such shocking statistics require significantly more consideration and scrutiny than there is at present. A key problem is the lack of regularly published fully disaggregated data on the ethnicity of children who have had a Taser used on them, despite a recommendation

by the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination for better disaggregated data to

be systematically collected and published on the enjoyment of rights by ethnic minorities.29

Police forces should publish more detailed

and consistent data and analysis on Taser use including the age and ethnicity of victims and the circumstances of use and whether any injuries were incurred. Evidence suggests children are

less likely to complain to the police about their treatment due to lack of knowledge or lack of trust and confidence. Positively, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has recently launched a Youth Panel to help increase confidence among children of the police complaints system.30

With limited information on the views of children, often too scared to speak out about their experiences (or feeling that their views or opinions are not valued), it is vital that there are proper safeguards and measures implemented to reduce the use of Tasers on children by the police and particularly to reduce the current unacceptable levels of ethnic disparities.

74% of children in London who have had a Taser used

on them are from a BAME background*

*Jan-Oct 2019

Source: CRAE FOI request responses

6. What needs to change?

CRAE wants the use of Taser on children to be eliminated. Failing that, there should be a strong presumption against their use on under 18s. Urgent action must be taken to protect children s safety and well-being and respect their rights.

National guidance

Under the Children Act 2004, the police must make arrangements to safeguard and promote

the welfare of children.31 This includes the police s use of Tasers that must comply with this statutory duty.

Currently there is no specific, national guidance

for police on the use of Tasers on children. A clear policy statement from police leaders at the NPCC outlining that Tasers should only ever be used

on children in the rarest situations where it is

 absolutely necessary could have a big impact on practice.

This could then be adapted by all forces in

England (including the Metropolitan Police Service) in their local policies on Taser use.

 Recommendation:  The NPCC and College of Policing must update the APP guidance on Taser use to remind officers of their duty to respect children s rights as set out in the NPCC strategy on policing children and young people. Tasers should only ever be used on children when absolutely necessary and when all other, less extreme options have been exhausted.

Training

Training for police officers on Taser use is rigorous but does not include (i) an explanation of children s rights, (ii) the child and adolescent brain and how it is likely to react differently to situations compared to an adult, and (iii) a detailed focus on the heightened risks of Taser use on children.

CRAE wants the College of Policing to amend the national Taser training package (which is adapted by individual forces for use in their own training) to include a focus on children s rights and a greater focus on trauma impact on the child and adolescent brain. This will help officers understand why Taser use on children should be avoided.

Although officers undergoing Taser training receive information about defusing situations,

we want to see more focus in the training on learning and using de-escalation techniques

(such as Verbal Judo). This is already successfully deployed by other frontline workers who work with children and young people in challenging situations.

 Recommendation:  The College of Policing must revise Taser training packages to include a focus on children s rights, the child and adolescent brain and de-escalation techniques.

Data

There have been welcome improvements in

the way police forces gather and record data

on the use of force but statistics on the use of Taser that is broken down by age and ethnicity are not routinely published through either the Home Office annual publication of Taser statistics or individual forces own websites. Currently,

the only way to extract this data is when organisations like CRAE make FOIs.

Even with that data, it is difficult to get a complete picture of what is happening and

the circumstances in which Taser is being used. Understanding this is vital to ensuring Taser is only being used on children when absolutely necessary.

 Recommendation: The Home Office must routinely publish disaggregated, detailed data on the use of Taser on children including ethnicity and circumstances or reasons for use both nationally and by individual police force.

Scrutiny and monitoring

In addition to gathering and publishing data, police leaders at all levels (including the NPCC and individual forces at a local/regional level) must routinely analyse and reflect on statistics about Taser use on children. Such monitoring should help ensure Taser is not being used too readily and too often by particular police officers or teams.

Scrutiny and monitoring should extend to the police officer selection process for Taser use. Whilst training is an effective option to address any issues that arise from the culture surrounding Taser use, it is also important to understand the transition to operational use of Taser (including evaluating the effectiveness of its supervision).

PCCs (including the Mayor s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) in London) and any local policing ethics committees should regularly review data around Taser use on children for their police force and compare against similar forces for any significant differences and identify reasons why. This should include regular dip- sample analysis of Taser use records to ensure the weapons are only being used in appropriate circumstances.

 Recommendation: Local and national mechanisms for scrutinising Taser use on children must be vastly improved. PCCs (including MOPAC in London) should develop robust processes for analysing data and circumstances of Taser use on children and challenge forces where appropriate.

The IOPC32 should play an important monitoring role of the police use of Taser on vulnerable groups such as children. CRAE wants the Government to change the law so that any

use of Taser on a child results in a mandatory notification to the IOPC and supply of detailed information about circumstances around the use of force.

This would enable the IOPC to collate, analyse and make recommendations for improvements

or lessons to learn to police forces, the College of Policing and the NPCC.

 Recommendation: The IOPC should be enabled to monitor the use of Taser on children by ensuring they are notified of all Taser uses on children.

The police say Tasers can help them to protect the public and officers, but this must not come at the cost of children s safety and human rights.

1. College of Policing website on Conducted Energy Devices, accessed 13 February 2020, https://www. app.college.police.uk/app-content/armed-policing/ conducted-energy-devices-taser/
2. Amnesty International, accessed 13 February 2020, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/04/less- lethal-weapons-can-kill-and-police-misuse-them-for- torture/
3. National Police Chiefs Council (2015) Child centred policing: A national strategy.
4. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (2016) Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
5. UN Committee Against Torture (2013) Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
6. UN Committee Against Torture (2019) Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
7. Evening Standard, accessed 13 February 2020, https:// www.standard.co.uk/news/london/cressida-dick- more-met-police-officers-to-start-carrying-taser- guns-a4238971.html
8. Thompson Reuters, accessed 13 February 2020, Inside the Taser, the weapon that transformed policing: Shock tactics
9. Defence Scientific Advisory Council Sub-Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons, DOMILL, (2012) Statement on the Medical Implications of Use of the Taser X26 and M26 Less-Lethal Systems on Children and Vulnerable Adults
10. Defence Scientific Advisory Council Sub-Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons, DOMILL, (2012) Statement on the Medical Implications of Use of the Taser X26 and M26 Less-Lethal Systems on Children and Vulnerable Adults
11. Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical

Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons, SACMILL, (2016) Statement on the Medical Implications of Use of the TASER X2 Conducted Energy Device System

12. Axon, accessed 13 February 2020, https://www.axon. com/products/taser-7.
13. Children's Rights Alliance for England (2016) Children speak out on policing and youth justice
14. Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons, SACMILL (2016) Statement on the Medical Implications of Use of the TASER X2 Conducted Energy Device System
15. College of Policing website on Conducted Energy Devices, accessed 13 February 2020, https://www. app.college.police.uk/app-content/armed-policing/ conducted-energy-devices-taser/
16. The College of Policing s Authorised Professional Practice, accessed 13 February 2020, https://www. app.college.police.uk/app-content/armed-policing/ conducted-energy-devices-taser/?highlight=ced?s=ced  
17. National Police Chiefs Council, accessed 13 February 2020, Police Chiefs commission urgent review on officer safety
18. Home Office (2019) Use of force statistics for England and Wales between April 2018 to March 2019, Home Office Statistics Release
19. Home Office (2019) Use of force statistics for England and Wales between April 2018 to March 2019, Home Office Statistics Release
20. Independent Police Complaints Commission (2014) IPCC Review of Taser complaints and incidents 2004-2013
21. Home Office, accessed 13 February 2020, https://www. gov.uk/government/news/home-office-announces-10- million-for-taser-uplift.
22. Independent, accessed 13 February 2020, https://www. independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tasers-police- uk-10000-government-safety-risk-force-a9123896.html
23. London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, Arming the Met: The deployment of less lethal weapons in London (October 2013)
24. Children s Rights Alliance for England, http://www.crae. org.uk/news/blog-warnings-about-the-use-of-tasers- on-children-must-not-be-ignored/
25. Independent, accessed 13 February 2020, https://www. independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-officer- taser-london-armed-cressida-dick-a9109276.html
26. Children s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), http:// www.crae.org.uk/news/blog-warnings-about-the-use- of-tasers-on-children-must-not-be-ignored/
27. Independent, accessed 13 February 2020, https://www. independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-officer- taser-london-armed-cressida-dick-a9109276.html
28. Metropolitan Police London Assembly, Use of Force Dataset, accessed 13 February 2020, available at https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/use-of-force . This extrapolated information is based on the qualifications and assumptions related to such data in particular,

incident numbers may be over-representative due to duplicative results being reported in the relevant tables (i.e. where more than one officer has used force on the same subject, this was shown on the relevant table

on separate rows of data, which, as such, resulted in duplicate metadata)

29. UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2016) Concluding Observations on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
30. Independent Office for Police Coduct (27 March 2018) Youth Panel established to help increase confidence among young people
31. Under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 authorities must make arrangements directed to improving the child s well-being in the areas of: physical and mental health and emotional well-being; protection from harm and neglect; education, training and recreation; the contribution made by them to society; social and economic well-being
32. Formerly known as the Independent Police Complaints Commission

About CRAE

The Children s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) is part of the charity Just for Kids Law. We work with over 150 organisations and individuals to promote children s rights making us one

of the biggest children s rights coalitions in the world.

We believe that human rights are a powerful tool for in making life better for children. We fight for children s rights by listening to what they say, carrying out research to understand what children are going through and using the law to challenge those who violate children s rights. We campaign for the people in power to change things for children and we empower children and those who care about children to push for the changes that they want to see.

With support from Trust for London, CRAE facilitates the London Forum on Children and Policing which brings together voluntary, community and statutory sector organisations to discuss and tackle issues around the policing of children.

This briefing was written by:

Laura Cooper, Policy and Public Affairs Manager (Criminal Justice), Children s Rights Alliance for England,

part of Just for Kids Law. T: 020 1374 2279 | E: info@crae.org.uk W: www.crae.org.uk | T: @crae_official