Police more likely to Taser black people due to institutional racism | The Guardian
Police: black people were eight times more likely to be Tasered by them, and now only 4.2 times more likely. So what? It’s still institutional racism.
This is bad news for anyone who thought the police were going to reform after the Met was found to be institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic:
Police are far more likely to use a Taser electrical weapon against black people due to structural and institutional racism rather than the views of individual officers, a new report says.
The report says: “Our study suggests it may be a combination of societal issues and institutional policing priorities, policies and practices which are systematically and disproportionately affecting black and other ethnic minority communities in deprived neighbourhoods relative to the populations of more wealthy surrounding, predominantly white areas.
“In other words, our study supports the idea that the patterns of ethnic disproportionality evident in the UK Home Office statistics cannot be explained solely or even primarily at the level of individual officer behaviour or psychology because they are an outcome of an interaction between structural and institutional racism.”
Chief constable Lucy D’Orsi, who speaks for the NPCC on use of the weapon, said: “In 2019-20 black people were eight times more likely to have it used on them. Whilst figures from 2022-23 stats have shown a reduction to 4.2 times more likely, it is vital that we question why that is and take action.
“We welcome the findings of the report and are committed to thoroughly reviewing the content so that we can make appropriate changes to have a positive impact on the lives of black people.”
This Writer would suggest that the way police use Tasers is already impacting the lives of black people.
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They’ll taser blind men and claim they mistook the stick they were using for a samurai sword.
They’ll taser 9 year old kids because they were threatened with a pair of garden shears
They’ll taser young (white) kids for 40+ seconds at a time, causing their deaths.
They’ll taser who they please when they please. Just thank Christ they’re not armed with guns.
But I guess it won’t be long until they are. Keith Smarmer will no doubt press for it, should be become PM (God forbid).
Nothing will change because the women hating metropolitan police have men in charge and they will never ever instigate a radical removal of misognistic and racist male police officers! So eagerly await yet another report being published in a few years time wherein the same findings will appear and the male police officers in charge will claim ‘wah we are doing everything we can to root out those (innumerable) bad apples!’
It’s been 20 years since the introduction of Tasers in 2003. When it was proposed many had their doubts but were reassured by the police who said it meant they could use Tasers in place of firearms where suspects were armed with knives and the like. We were assured that it would NOT be used where batons or sprays could be used.
Now it seems you get Tased if you are a bit mouthy, and black. ‘Mission Creep’ is bad enough but when coupled with both institutional and individual racism it’s a deadly combination. It should be used in VERY rare circumstances as a first option and rarely used as a second or third. Remember, this was sold to us all as being safer for those being arrested..