Met police firearms

[Fedster + 1,307]

Ten months after the new Taser was approved for police use, almost half of British territorial forces say it has not yet been used on their streets.

At least eighteen forces have not yet begun rolling out the new Taser X2 model, ten months after the Home Office approved it for police use, Police Oracle can reveal.

Taser X26e has been out of production since at least 2015 and in March last year the Home Office approved the newer Taser X2.

Although there is no suggestion the Taser X26es are unsafe, distribution company Taser Safety Responses Ltd said the model had “approached its sunset” in 2015.

But since the Home Office gave the go-ahead, only two forces have  completely replaced the old less lethal weapon.

Police leaders in firearms have already warned UK police forces are “behind the curve”.

Twenty-one forces (including British Transport Police) said they had started the introduction and training process (some as recently as a few weeks ago) but X26e are still used on their streets.

Only two forces - Dorset and South Wales - told Police Oracle they have completely replaced their old Taser.

The Metropolitan Police is among the 18 who told Police Oracle they have not yet started introducing Taser X2 but plan to do so.

A spokeswoman for MPS said there is currently no set timeframe for their update.

She said: “Following Home Office approval of the X2 model in March 2017, the Met will be adopting this new model in the future, gradually phasing out the X26E model. At this stage, no specific timescales have been set for the replacement programme, although it is expected to happen over the next two years.

“Due diligence checks have been made by the Met to ensure that we are equipping our officers with the best and safest model available.

“As part of the uplift, the number of Taser devices in the Met will also be increased by 705 - from 1,810 to 2,515."

Several forces also said they did not have a start date set in stone or that the roll out is expected to take two to four years.

Leicestershire Police said it had no plans to exchange its Taser, but insisted the decision was not related to financial reasons.

“We have a sufficient number of Tasers in the force and they do not require replacing at this time,” she said.

The Beds, Cambs and Herts (BCH) Armed Policing Unit (APU) is expected to transfer from the existing X26 taser to the new X2, although a timeframe has not yet been set, subject to the Home Secretary approval, for use operationally in UK police forces.

The X2 will not be rolled out to officers outside of the APU within BCH, meaning specially trained officers (STOs) in other departments will retain their existing X26 devices. There is however a longer-term aspiration for STOs to embark on a replacement programme making the switch from X26 to X2.

A spokesman for Hertfordshire Police said priority will be given to officers on intervention teams who respond to 999 calls and X26 is expected to be phased out altogether by the end of the year.

Devon and Cornwall, Cambridgeshire, North Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire were among the forces who said they are initially only training specialist teams but hope to eventually stop using X26e.

Officers who are trained to use Taser X2 are not allowed to revert to the older weapon.

Taser X2 has a range of 25 feet, compared with the X26 range of 21 feet, and has a second cartridge which will reduce re-loading. It’s also attributed with better accountability as it boasts a “black box” with enhanced data capture that can analysed later.

The new model has a dual laser and, according to Home Office data, has a 90 per cent success rate compared with its older brother’s 65 per cent average.

Phill Matthews, Police Federation of England and Wales spokesperson on Taser said: “Taser is a vital piece of officer safety equipment and we support every officer who wishes to carry one having the access and training to do so.

“However, as can be seen from the differing responses from the individual forces there is still a lack of consistency in the approach to providing, maintaining and upgrading the equipment.

“Taser is an invaluable asset but is it also an expensive one and cost is a big factor – not only the cost of purchasing and maintaining the hardware but also the storage and logging systems, and the training for officers who carry them.

“Unfortunately chief officers are facing the real choice of either providing kit for officers to do the job and face the possibility of reducing the work force, or not updating the kit and trying to maintain the numbers.

“This is not helped by the fact that a large swathe of the X26 Tasers were bought outside of force budgets from government grant funding.

“To provide consistency across the service, and to ensure the safety of officers, the government should step in and provide the funding for forces to update their old Taser units and secure funding to provide the required training over the next few years. 

“If this happened I think you’d find a lot more forces willing to upgrade and widen their roll out of Taser.”

Shaun West, Assistant Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police, which announced it is launching the Taser X2 this week, said his officers will undergo “rigorous training.”

“Having a Taser can mean the difference between a dangerous situation being peacefully resolved or not as it provides another tactical option officers can consider.

“It is an indispensable piece of kit, especially considering the unique nature of our large county of Lincolnshire, where our officers often find themselves out and about on duty alone. I want to ensure our officers can quickly and safely deal with incidents so they meet the demands placed upon us, while also ensuring the public receive the highest possible level of service, therefore keeping them as safe as possible.”

Four English forces and two Welsh territorial forces did not respond in time for our deadline.

Police Oracle contacted the National Police Chiefs’ Council for comment but it did not respond in time for our deadline. 

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[SimonT + 1,185]

I'm waiting for my cross over training. The great thing is that once trained I'm not allowed to use the x26 anymore. And as we only have a couple of the new ones and lots of the old ones I may be trained to carry nothing. 

[obsidian_eclipse + 1,202]

We do have a strange method of training over here when if comes to tasers and such like. Most other countries will have a familiarisation course to upgrade to the newer models and then swap kit as it becomes available. I know the x2 is slightly different as I've handled one and seen a demonstration, does it need a complete overhaul though?

[Sceptre + 2,701]

The lack of grandfather rights to the X26 is the big obstacle to training here as well; when you have a couple of X2s and lots of X26s what supervisor wants to send all their staff off to be trained? I can't understand the rationale to it, why can someone not be skilled on both weapons?

[HazRat 762]

6 minutes ago, Sceptre said:

The lack of grandfather rights to the X26 is the big obstacle to training here as well; when you have a couple of X2s and lots of X26s what supervisor wants to send all their staff off to be trained? I can't understand the rationale to it, why can someone not be skilled on both weapons?

Because the adults who write the training clearly think that you won’t be able to tell the difference between the two in the heat of the moment and use them incorrectly?

[Growley + 2,436]

The lack of grandfather rights to the X26 is the big obstacle to training here as well; when you have a couple of X2s and lots of X26s what supervisor wants to send all their staff off to be trained? I can't understand the rationale to it, why can someone not be skilled on both weapons?

In fairness I can see why they don't want you using both, because the drills are different. The X2 is loaded before you do your arc check, so if you mess up your muscle memory you can quite easily have a negligent/unintentional discharge.

There's also the fact that reactivating the X2 requires you to push the side button rather than pull the trigger again, like on the X26. I've been in the position where I have needed to reactivate my taser in the heat of the moment, and I found that if you don't have time to think about it, you will absolutely fall back on what you're used to.

The odd thing however is that the job seem to let this rule go when it comes to instructors.

[HazRat 762]

13 hours ago, Growley said:

The odd thing however is that the job seem to let this rule go when it comes to instructors.

The job seems to throw quite a few rules out of the window when it comes to instructors.