As reported in the Times earlier this year, Chief Constable, Alan Pughsley, outlined plans to allow all police officers, including Specials, the option of carrying the conducted electrical weapon – used to disable criminal suspects.
Speaking to Policing Insight magazine, the Chief Constable said: “Nothing in the last six months has persuaded me that my decision to give a Taser to every officer that wants one was wrong – indeed as we see the stabbing of PC Outten from the Met and the tragic and senseless death of PC Harper from Thames Valley, I am more than ever certain it was the right thing to do.”
He added that the number of knives now being carried by criminals is unprecedented in his 35-year career and that arming officers means they now have the ‘confidence in tackling the violent criminals who have come to carry knives routinely’.
He continued: “Assaults on officers have increased.
“Over 1,100 assaults on police officers occurred in Kent last year.
“I have also seen an increase in knife crime of 182 per cent in three years in Kent.”
He went on to back current Home Secretary Priti Patel’s tough stance on policing.
