Police: Stun Guns Mr. Ruffley To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the written ministerial statement of 24 November 2008, Official Report, columns 37-8W, on Tasers, how many Tasers each police force has; and how much expenditure her Department has incurred in supplying Tasers to each police force in the last 12 months. Mr. Coaker Taser has been available for use by authorised firearms officers in all forces since 2004. At 31 March 2008, there were 6,780 authorised firearms officers in England and Wales. In extending the use of Taser to specially trained units the Home Office has so far provided £8 million to the National Policing Improvement Agency to support the purchase of 7,000 Tasers which have been distributed to forces. The breakdown by force is in the following table. --------------------------------------------------------------- |Police force |Tasers requested and provided| --------------------------------------------------------------- |Avon and Somerset Constabulary |130 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Bedfordshire Constabulary |90 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |British Transport Police |400 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Cambridgeshire Constabulary |150 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Cheshire Constabulary |82 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |City of London Police |30 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Cleveland Constabulary |140 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Cumbria Constabulary |50 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Derbyshire Constabulary |250 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Devon and Cornwall Constabulary|325 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Dorset Constabulary |100 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Durham Constabulary |120 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Dyfed Powys Police |80 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Essex Police |60 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Gloucestershire Constabulary |50 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Greater Manchester Police |550 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Gwent Constabulary |100 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Hampshire Constabulary |100 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Hertfordshire Constabulary |110 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Humberside Police |100 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Kent Constabulary |112 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Lancashire Constabulary |200 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Leicestershire Constabulary |110 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Lincolnshire Police |364 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Merseyside Police |365 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Metropolitan Police |150 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Norfolk Constabulary |100 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Northamptonshire Police |36 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Northumbria Police |88 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |North Wales Police |130 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |North Yorkshire Police |100 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Nottinghamshire Constabulary |200 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |South Wales Constabulary |120 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |South Yorkshire Police |70 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Staffordshire Police |98 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Suffolk Constabulary |100 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Surrey Police |250 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Sussex Police |50 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Thames Valley Police |100 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Warwickshire Constabulary |78 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |West Mercia Constabulary |70 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |West Midlands Police |600 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |West Yorkshire Police |327 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Wiltshire Constabulary |95 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |SOCA |70 | --------------------------------------------------------------- |Total |7,000 | ---------------------------------------------------------------