Police Scotland Implementation and Use of the Technology

In 2018 Police Scotland introduced a new cadre of Specially Trained Officers (STO) who are personally qualified to use a Taser device. There are approximately 520 STOs currently working within Police Scotland. In order to qualify to use a Taser, officers must undergo rigorous training (the Police Scotland CED User Course totals 24 hours, exceeding the minimum UK requirement of 18 hours contact time).

STOs must also take part in yearly refresher training in order to continue to be issued with a Taser device.

Since their introduction in June 2018, STOs have been deployed to 1,355 incidents. During this time period, Tasers have been used on 782 instances, although they have only been discharged 90 times in this period (11.5% discharge rate per use).

The University of the West of Scotland conducted a study which assessed the extended use of Tasers for STOs. The research project evaluated the first six months of Taser deployment in the latter half of 2018. The results of the study confirmed that both the public and officers were in general support of the controlled use of Tasers in Police Scotland.

Police Scotland’s Taser Tactical Group maintains an overview and scrutiny of the STOs. Its aims include identifying best practice and looking for opportunities to share learning. Police Scotland also has a Taser Monitoring Group which provides strategic oversight of Taser use by frontline officers.