In a 2020 Inquest into the death of Marc Cole (see below), the Coroner suggested 'a wholesale review of the effects of multiple Taser activations and the effects of sustained activations (whether in isolation or in combination) so that fuller and more comprehensive advice, guidance and training can be given to those officers who are authorised to carry Tasers.' Use of Force in Custodial Settings With respect to conducted electrical weapons (Taser©), the College of Policing sets policy guidelines, but these do not describe in which circumstances a Taser should and should not be used. In Scottish law the concept of ‘reasonable belief’ is outlined in the following guidance to officers:Ī police officer is not entitled to discharge a firearm against a person unless the officer has reasonable grounds for believing that the person is committing, or about to commit, an action likely to endanger the life or cause serious injury to the officer or any other person, and there is no other way to prevent the danger. If the person assaulted has means of escape or retreat, they are bound to use them. The force used in the face of this danger must be necessary for the safety of the accused – by this it is meant that the force must be both necessary in the circumstances and should be proportional to the threat which is being combated, and, There must be imminent danger to the life or limb of the accused, These requirements, coming from the 1954 judgment in the case of HM Advocate v. Particular rules on use of firearms exist in Scotland. Under the common law, three conditions must be met before the defence of self-defence or defence of another is available. Court of Appeal, R (W80) v Director General IOPC, Appeal No: C1/2019/2919, 9 October 2020, para. That conclusion was soundly based in law on the proper and plain meaning of the 2012 Regulations and the Code. The IOPC was justified in concluding that it was open to a reasonable panel at a misconduct hearing to make a finding of misconduct if W80’s honest, but mistaken, belief that his life was threatened was found to be unreasonable. Mr Baker was shot during a foiled attempt to enable a prisoner to escape in the context of a sentencing hearing. This issue was addressed in the context of a possible misconduct hearing for an officer-known as Officer W80-in relation with a police shooting of Mr Jermaine Baker in December 2015. Whether the degree of force used in the circumstances-as the person believed them to be-was actually reasonable will, however, be assessed objectively by the courts. The question of whether the degree of force used by a person was reasonable in the circumstances is to be decided by reference to those circumstances as that person genuinely and honestly believed them to be. This is so even if their belief is mistaken. There is thus both a subjective and an objective element to this defence. 76(3) and (4), 2008 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act. (ii) (if it was mistaken) the mistake was a reasonable one to have made. If it is determined that D did genuinely hold it, D is entitled to rely on it. The question whether the degree of force used by D was reasonable in the circumstances is to be decided by reference to the circumstances as D believed them to be. College of Policing, 'Armed Policing, Legal Framework', at: this general framework, the notion of what is to be determined as 'reasonable' is clarified by the 2008 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act: This is also the position at common law with respect to self-defence or the defence of others, including by police officers and other law enforcement officials. Under the 1967 Criminal Law Act:Ī person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large. Rules on police use of force are spread across statutory instruments and the common law. At the end of February 2019, the UK Policing Minister reiterated before Parliament that in the United Kingdom 'any use of force by police officers must be lawful, proportionate and reasonable in the circumstances'.

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