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Police to be
armed with stun guns
Blunkett acts after spate of killings Special report: policing crime Kamal Ahmed and Tony Thompson Sunday July 15, 2001 The Observer Tranquilliser guns similar to those used to bring down wild animals are to be issued to police in an attempt to halt the number of fatal shootings by armed officers. David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, has told associates he was horrified by the case of Andrew Kernan, a 37-year-old schizophrenic, who was shot dead by police marksmen in Liverpool last Thursday. Kernan, who was waving a samurai sword and wearing pyjamas, was hit twice in the chest after police failed to subdue him with CS gas. Blunkett has told officials to bring forward plans to issue the tranquilliser guns, which would be used instead of firearms where the individual involved did not appear to have a real gun. 'We have to give police the options of using non-lethal force in these types of situation,' said a senior Home Office source. 'Something simply has to be done about these cases which the public rightly finds so distressing.' Colleagues close to Blunkett say that he is increasingly concerned about the use of police marksmen where the person to be subdued does not appear to be a direct threat to the public. One option being considered is an enhanced role for the Government's Less Lethal Technology group, which is liaising with police on finding new ways to stop situations like Thursday's spiralling out of control. Blunkett caused controversy when he publicly called for the sacking of Paul Whitehouse, the Chief Constable of Sussex, after the bungled shooting of an unarmed, naked man. James Ashley, 39, was shot dead at point-blank range in front of his 18-year-old girlfriend by a police marksman during a raid on his flat in St Leonards, East Sussex, in January 1998. In September 1999, Harry Stanley, 46, was shot dead as he was carrying a wooden chair leg in a plastic bag in Hackney, East London. The police had been tipped off that he was an Irish terrorist armed with a sawn-off shotgun. Blunkett now wants a complete review of the use of armed police in situations involving members of the public. Since 1995, 12 people have been killed by the police. The Home Office also wants the police to investigate the use of stun guns to incapacitate assailants. Although Blunkett insists police will still be able to use fully armed response teams 'where necessary', he has told colleagues he wants to give police a 'third way' between using batons and guns. In June the Government gave the go-ahead for police to use 'non-lethal' weaponry. Only one force, Northamptonshire, has so far taken advantage of this, ordering 50,000 stun guns which cause temporary paralysis. Police are expected to react warily to moves to issue them with different types of weaponry, which many believe will lead to confusion in very tense situations. Former Metropolitan Police firearms officer Roger Gray believes that issuing armed police officers with non-lethal weapons will lead to tragedy. 'The window of opportunity that presents itself in this kind of situation is tiny,' said Gray, whose book, The Trojan Files, documents his experiences of both police and suspects being shot in numerous encounters. 'If we start complicating the thought processes of the officers involved, innocent bystanders are going to end up hurt or killed. You can't walk into a situation with a Batman utility belt of options and then decide on a scale of one to ten which is the most appropriate.' Last night Liberal Democrat MP Nigel Jones, who was attacked by a samurai swordsman last year, is to press Blunkett to introduce curbs on the weapons. Jones and a local councillor, Andrew Pennington, were repeatedly slashed by in his constituency office in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Pennington died of his injuries and the MP needed hundreds of stitches. Their attacker is now in a secure mental hospital. 'Following this latest tragedy, the time has come to look at regulating these swords,' Jones said. 'I have learnt to my cost these weapons can kill. Anything we can do to stop people using them indiscriminately is worth considering.' |
