The police draw the taser an average of two to three thousand times a year, according to research. The weapon is actually used more than a thousand times a year. The police have been allowed to use the so-called stun guns since 2022.
If a suspect violently resists arrest, the police can use a so-called taser to get the suspect under control. But even in threatening situations where someone is wielding a knife, for example, an officer can reach for his stun gun.
Every year, the police threaten to use the weapon between two and three thousand times, according to research and evaluation by the Nivel research institute. Often threatening with the weapon is enough, but on average eleven hundred times a year the police actually use the taser to get the suspect under control.
As soon as the police use a taser, arrows with thin wires shoot out of the weapon. These bore into the suspect’s skin. A stun can then be given via the weapon. Due to this electric shock, the suspect no longer has control over his muscles and falls forward or backward. Officers can then proceed to arrest.
The stun gun itself rarely causes injuries that require treatment by a doctor, Nivel concludes. But because suspects often fall due to the use of the weapon, abrasions, fractures or concussion can occur.
Also concerns about the use of stun guns
In more than one in twenty suspects, the injuries from the fall are so serious that they require treatment by a doctor. In addition, six people have died in three years in the period after they were shot with a stun gun. But in at least five of the six cases, according to Nivel, there was no connection between the use of the weapon and the death of the person.
Yet there are also concerns. Sometimes the weapon is grabbed too quickly or used on people with mental health problems. According to the researchers, it is also important that officers continue to practice well. They must continue to think about when to use the weapon or not.
First evaluation of the use of stun guns
It is the first study into the use of the taser by the police in the Netherlands. More research will be done in the coming years.
The police recognize and endorse the conclusions in the Nivel report, a spokesperson for the police force told NU.nl. According to the spokesperson, officers are aware that the weapon can cause injuries to the suspect.
“Previously, we only had the choice between pepper spray and a baton on the one hand or a firearm on the other. There was nothing in between,” the spokesperson explains. “The use of a firearm causes much more serious injuries than a taser.”
“We only use means of force in serious situations where a suspect poses a danger to himself or his environment,” the spokesperson emphasizes. “Where possible, even in the heat of battle, officers try to prevent the suspect from being injured.”