NEW: Police in England and Wales could be given more tasers, body armour and spit hoods following the biggest police safety survey in history.
85% of police surveyed supported front line officers being given a taser.
@LBC
Chief Constables will be in charge of assessing the local need for such equipment, based on a risk assessment.
Evidence shows assaults on police were significantly reduced when officers drew their tasers, but increased in incidents where the taser was actually fired.
The study from the @PoliceChiefs recognised that there is evidence that tasers are disproportionately used on people from BAME backgrounds. The NPCC and College of Policing will conduct research into why this is and ways to mitigate it.
Safety training will also be overhauled, as the study found that 88% of police officers had faced an assault in their career, and a third weren’t satisfied by the training they’d received.
A new national curriculum will be set up to improve training.
The @PoliceChiefs are calling for a new criminal offence of using or threatening to use a vehicle to target a police officer.
They also want spitting and hate offences against emergency workers to be treated as aggravated offences.
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