UK Must Address Police Disproportionately Tasering Racial Minorities

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Yulia Shamporova – British authorities must explain "worrying" statistics that show police disproportionately use force against racial minorities, and outline measures to change this trend, Kamaljeet Jandu, the chairman of the Labour Party's Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) group told Sputnik on Thursday.

According to the UK Home Secretary official figures for England and Wales, policemen are three times more likely to use Tasers against black people than white people.

"These are worrying statistics. The Home Secretary Teresa May needs to explain these statistics and what plans she has to change the disproportionate impact on Black people. One shudders to think what the consequences would be if all police officers carried guns," Jandu said.

The UK police federation voted for Tasers to be issued to all uniformed officers in Britain in February 2015.

According to Home Office data, out of some 36,000 cases of police Taser use between 2010 and 2015, over 12 percent of those incidents involved black, African-Caribbean or mixed white and African-Caribbean origin. Black people make up around 4 percent of the UK population, according to the Guardian newspaper.

According to a BBC freedom of information request, between 2010 and 2015 British police used Tasers 38,135 times. In 80 percent of situations the devices were not discharged.