Electric-Shock Weapons, Tasers and Policing by Abi Dymond

Author:Abi Dymond [Dymond, Abi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Criminology
ISBN: 9781000480498
Google: NptIEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-10-24T04:27:43+00:00

Training curriculum and delivery

Training in England and Wales is presided over by the College of Policing, who work with what the NPCC describe as ‘an experienced group of CED instructors and practitioners’ to develop a standardised, national curriculum, and training package which is ‘subject to regular update and review’ (NPCC 2020). According to the NPCC (2020), the content of the training is ‘robustly scrutinised by the National Less-Lethal Weapons Working Group, the Home Office Centre for Applied Science and Technology (CAST) and the Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons (SACMILL)’. The College provide ‘Lead Instructors’ training—similar to a training of the trainers—for (at least) one instructor in each force. In turn, these instructors then preside over trainers, and training, in their home forces. The result is that officers are trained by their own in-force trainers backed up by a national package. As such, the theory is that every training course is no more than two steps removed from the College of Policing and this structure provides a high degree of standardisation while still allowing some room for local flexibility and making space for in-force knowledge.

Two distinct training packages are provided under this format, with potential TASER officers having to pass an initial training course with a minimum contact time of 18 hours. Once qualified, officers are mandated to undertake yearly ‘refresher training’ which must be no less than 6 hours long. According to the College, ‘officers can be authorised for no longer than 12 months from the date of their last period of CED training’ (College of Policing 2020a).

As a result of such factors, the NPCC (2020) claim—with some justification—that ‘the CED training package in the UK is one of longest and most comprehensive in the world… (and) is among the best training in the world’. In comparison, one study reported that forces in the United States of America gave their officers between five and eight hours training, and that TASER International recommended a minimum of four hours training on the weapon (Kedir 2006). A second study, based on a national survey of forces in the United States of America, also found that ‘most agencies provide initial training lasting four hours (28.8%) or eight hours (46.6%); although some agencies provide significantly less training’. Concerningly, it found that almost one in five forces did not require any refresher retraining at all. Of those that did require refresher training, two thirds required annual retraining, with the remaining third of forces requiring it less frequently. Moreover, over half of forces that gave refresher training spent four hours or less on the course (Alpert and Dunham, 2010). Disappointingly, little or no information is available about training outside of the USA.

No official version of the initial or refresher TASER training curriculum in England and Wales is publicly available, so although the minimum number of training hours is given, it is difficult to reach a definitive, official position of how these hours are broken down. Moreover, the curriculum itself can be subject to change, both between forces and between TASER models, as well as over time.

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