What Are Tasers?

Taser is the brand name of the Conducted Energy Devices that police forces across the UK use. Tasers can be used in a number of ways to de-escalate a potentially violent or dangerous situation without excessive force.

It was a NASA researcher, Jack Cover, who in 1974 first patented the device designed to immobilise a living target without serious trauma or injury. Sometimes referred to as Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs), a Taser is designed to provide frontline officers with an ability to restrain potentially dangerous individuals without the use of excessive force.

By 1976 the first Taser device had been manufactured and by the mid-2000s they had become common-place throughout many police forces across the world.

Tasers have been used in the UK by police forces since 2004. Research suggests that when a Taser is drawn by frontline officers there is an 85% compliance rate, with no need to discharge the device.

In the UK a Conducted Energy Device/Taser is classified as a ‘prohibited weapon’ in Section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968 and it is an offence for any member of the public to possess or use such a weapon. Police officers whilst acting in their capacity as such, are exempt from the requirements of the legislation.