FOI 248896
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 248896
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 16th May 2023. Please find below the response to your request:
Under the Freedom of Information Act I would like to request the following information:
1) Could you detail how many times a Taser gun has been successfully fired at an individual in the following years:
a)2022
b)2021
c)2020
d)2019
2) Of those who were shot by a Taser gun, could you provide an ethnicity breakdown in the following years
a)2022
b)2021
c)202
d)2019
3)Of those who were shot by a Taser gun, could you provide a gender breakdown in the following years:
a)2022
b)2021
c)202
d)2019
4)Of those who were shot by a Taser gun, how many were under the age of 18 at the time that they had a Taser fired at them, in the following years
a)2022
b)2021
c)202
d)2019
5)Of those who were shot by a Taser gun AND were under the age of 18 at the time of the incident, could you detail how many were Asian, Black or any other ethnic minority in the following years?
a)2022
b)2021
c)202
d)2019
5)Of the incidents where a Taser gun was fired at an individual, how many took place in a setting where vulnerable people reside or are present, i.e care home, assisted living accommodations, psychiatric hospital or any other health care facilities in the following years?
a)2022
b)2021
c)202
d)2019
6) Of the incidents where a Taser gun was fired at an individual, how many resulted in the individual being referred to mental health services?
a)2022
b)2021
c)202
d)2019
7) How many times has an individual died as a direct consequence of being Tasered by one of your police officers in the following years?
a)2022
b)2021
c)202
d)2019
Reply
Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested. S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”. For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. S.12(2) of the Act exempts a public authority from its obligations under Section 1(1) - the duty to confirm if the information being requested is held, if to provide that confirmation alone would exceed the “appropriate limit”.
The information you have requested is not available in a readily retrievable format. Within the 4 yr period (2019-2022) where Taser has been fired approximately 102 Taser forms or UOF forms have been completed. Some of the information requested would require West Mercia Police to check every form to obtain that information, as it would be more than would be on the home office returns.
To find, obtain, review and check the requested information from every individual form/report has been estimated at 20 minute per individual form/report which would take approximately 34 hours at its shortest which would exceed the time considerably. Further, unfortunately, due to the volume of records that would need to be reviewed I am unable to identify information that could be supplied within the fees limit.