Police Taser 7500 London police carry them

Tasers (and indeed other weapons) can be reasonable to deploy in extraordinary circumstances, such as against spree killers. But beat cops shouldn't be carrying them on routine police business.

Compare with the London bridge spree killer who had two long knives strapped to his arms and was stopped by pedestrians wielding objects they found nearby: a fire extinguisher and a narwhal tusk. The cops that shot him dead on the scene did so when the man was already caught (because he had a fake suicide vest).

What would have happened in this situation with the guy with the sword if a taser had not been used then??

As I said earlier, it’s about fighting fire with fire. It’s no longer adequate to send Police out on the streets with a baton and PAVA spray.

Tasers aren't safe. More tasers will mean more people (including innocent people) having intense pain inflicted on them, with more deaths (from heart attack, striking head on falling etc.). They're preferable to firearms, but we shouldn't encourage their proliferation.

If it did, why is there huge amounts of violent crime in countries with armed police?

Countries with armed police are just about every country other than the UK. Some will have high crime rates, others low ones (for instance many European countries).

Arming police will absolutely not reduce violent crime.

If it did, why is there huge amounts of violent crime in countries with armed police? Or doesn't act as a deterrent. It makes things worse!

I promise not to murder you. Even if I haven't taken my meds.

The word you're looking for is "respect". We treat these weapons with the respect they merit.

The "tasers" carried by pensioners are likely to be the little handheld zappers that you press against someone like a philishave, which are a little uncomfortable but won't put off a determined attacker. The ones used by law enforcement fire out barbs which stick into someone, and if they land right, the target can no longer properly operate their own muscles. I wouldn't want to live anywhere that allowed members of the general public to walk around with weapons like that, ready to use on random people whenever they fancied.

You cannot enforce people taking meds tho

MH facilities can diagnose and prescribe the meds. I've seen plenty of men NOT taking the meds....refusing....and suffered the effects from that.

You can't keep everyone 'locked up'

as someone who takes an interest in looking at the background of perpetrators I can bet we are going to find out this man was known to mental health agencies and/or police.

He probably made clear he was a significant risk but yet allowed to roam free with tragic consequences. I think this is a bigger issue. The man in Nottingham who killed the students - i think he had a similar background.

I thought the same as soon as I heard this on the news yesterday @SharpAzurePanda . And I wonder if adequate resourcing for MH services might prevent some of these events, which seem to be becoming more common. Services are horribly overstretched, acute beds for those needing admission are in very short supply, lots of people needing support and monitoring don't have a lead practitioner and the frequency of community appointments has been much reduced.

That bloke should think himself lucky to be tasered. He'd have been shot dead elsewhere.

people say they use them too much (like pp I quoted) then a horrific incident like yesterday happens and people say there’s not enough of them.
as I say, dammed if they do, dammed if they don’t.

I suspect a growing proportion of the population no longer consents to be policed, so what now? Tasers are a happy medium rather than every officer carrying a firearm.

🙄Its a Taser, not a firearm.

Your 13 year old will be just fine.

You don't really understand statistics do you?

I am in Northern Ireland and I honestly find it bizarre that 95% of countries including my own carry actual guns… weapons but not there rest of the UK.

Seeing so many attacks/stabbing etc I think they should carry weapons too. It makes no sense to me why the police force are in constant threat but with very little to hand to defend themselves and the community.

Absolutely 💯.

Tasers are treated with hysteria here. In m other countries they are treated like a joke and carried by pensioners.

They only work half the time and even then are not very effective.

The reaction of some people on here is truly pathetic.

The police said he is not known to them

interesting well we will wait and see and I could definitely be proved wrong, but personally I’ll be surprised if mental health or social care agencies haven’t had significant dealings with him and know what he was like.

The police said he is not known to them.

Re the tasers, from the footage it seemed as if three officers confronted him first but did not appear to have tasers. They were asking him to drop the sword then as he turned round, they were slightly backing off.

as someone who takes an interest in looking at the background of perpetrators I can bet we are going to find out this man was known to mental health agencies and/or police.

He probably made clear he was a significant risk but yet allowed to roam free with tragic consequences. I think this is a bigger issue. The man in Nottingham who killed the students - i think he had a similar background.

When I see people acting strangely towards or even near me I immediately pull away , I know it’s not PC but I know there are so many unhinged people being released from secure facilities. And they won’t act until after something drastic has happened.

I was nearly attacked by a man (that I knew) with (untreated) schizophrenia in my early 20s - long story but it’s made me wary and hyper aware of the fact some people with mental health issues are in fact a danger to others.

The modelling of policing in this country is policing by consent. Of course it's up to us

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2023/dec/complex-picture-emerges-around-disproportionate-use-taser-some-communities

They're disproportionately used on minorities and the mentally ill.

And this is the crux of it.
police are dammed if they do and dammed if they don’t

I'm confused, they did taser him didn't they? This from the BBC:

The Met said police arrived within 12 minutes of the first call and officers had used a kind of pepper spray and a Taser on the suspect, which did not stop him.

I think more police should have tasers. Their safety and my safety is more important to me than that of a violent criminal. Criminals are already heavily armed.