Staffordshire Police threatened children with Tasers 29 times
Children were threatened with Taser stun guns by Staffordshire Police officers on almost 30 occasions, latest figures show.
The youngest was 14 although the Taser was not actually fired at him.
Tasers were used on 29 occasions in 2013 on under-18s by officers across the county.
That figure includes the stun gun simply being unbuckled from an officer's holster to the weapon actually being fired. The youngest person it was fired at was a 17-year-old boy. Elsewhere, West Midlands Police used Tasers on 52 occasions in 2013. Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis today defended he force's use of Tasers, saying the force's approach to using the weapon 'is the most rigorous in the country'.
He said: "We shouldn't be focusing on the age of the individual but on the risk that they pose to themselves or others.
"It is part of my job to ensure the police act appropriately in the way Taser is used in Staffordshire. That's why six months ago I asked the independent Ethics, Transparency and Audit Panel to conduct a thorough review of Taser use after a report by the Independent Police and Complaints Commission showed that Staffordshire appeared to have the highest use in the country in 2013.
"I'm satisfied that police in Staffordshire keep the discharge of Taser to a minimum and in very specific circumstances.
"Far from being a problem, the use of Taser as a deterrent is useful for reducing potential injuries in difficult circumstances." Mr Ellis explained in the case of the 14-year-old boy that he had stripped an iron bar from some fittings at a hospital children's ward and threatened police with it and was in danger of falling from a balcony.
Mr Ellis added: "Police pointed the Taser red dot at him, without discharging it, and it calmed the situation down.
As a result of the ETAP review, if a Taser is ever discharged on someone who is 16 or under the case will automatically trigger a formal professional standards review."
