The implementation and the carriage of Tasers by Police Scotland

In 2018 Police Scotland introduced a new group of Specially Trained Officers (STOs) who have been personally qualified to use a Taser device. Having considered the benefits from carrying Taser, Police Scotland developed a  proposal for consideration at SPA’s Policing Performance Committee in September 2021 to commence an expansion programme which included enhancing the number of Taser STOs.   Since the start of this expansion there are now over 1,500 STOs trained and currently working within Police Scotland. To qualify as a STO and use a Taser, Officers must complete a  rigorous training programme which includes not just the use of the device, but the understanding of and skills in a range of de-escalation approaches. 

Qualification as a STO follows successful completion of a 4-day course which involves both theoretical and practical elements.  Officers then return once a year for annual refresher training to maintain their STO status.

The nature of response policing means that Officers will often have to deal with incidents that are fast moving, dynamic and where information is limited and time is critical.  The primary consideration in this situation is the current or emerging threat of harm to either to citizens or to the officers themselves. The actions or potential actions of the individual whose is posing that threat and how to remove that threat are balanced against the potential impact of the application of the Taser tactics on the threatening individual.  

Selected, trained and accredited Officers will be deployed as STOs across all 13 Local Policing Divisions under the command of the

Local Policing Commanders, ensuring that each Division has access to a 24 hour Taser capability. These Officers will be deployed from identified response policing hubs located across the country to incidents where there is violence or threats of violence of such severity that the use of a Taser may be necessary to reduce the immediate risk of threat to citizens or officers.