Taser (988A/21)
Request
For each calendar year 2018, 2019 and 2020 and the period 1st January 2021 to 29th June 2021, could you please tell me:
1) How many times your police officers fired/discharged Tasers at people (i.e. in drive stun mode, angled drive stun mode or fired so that the barbs are discharged at the subject)?
2) The age range (i.e. youngest to oldest) of the people who police officers fired/discharged Tasers at?
3) For your answer to question 2, could you provide brief details of the incidents involving the youngest and oldest person tasered?
4) How many times your police officers fired/discharged Tasers at an animal (i.e. in drive stun mode, angled drive stun mode or fired so that the barbs are discharged)?
5) The type of animals (including breed if the animal is a dog) that police officers fired/discharged Tasers at?
Response
Unfortunately our data are not organised in such a way as to allow us to provide all of this information within the appropriate (cost) limit of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act (see ‘Reason for Decision’ below).
However, although excess cost removes the force’s obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, as a gesture of goodwill I have supplied information, relative to your request, retrieved before it was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded (see attached file 988A_21_attachment.pdf). I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of the request.
REASON FOR DECISION
Questions 4 and 5 – The Use of Force database does not contain submissions or categories for animals. The Use of Force form deals with persons, and as such, we are not in a position to determine how many Taser activations there have been against animals and the type, without conducting a manual review which would exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12).
This means that the cost of compliance with the whole of your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond, i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12(1) of the FOI Act 2000. For West Midlands Police, the appropriate limit is set at £450, as prescribed by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, S.I. 3244.
Further information on section 12 of FOI is available here: