Technology - 1245 Taser deployments by the police, mostly only as a threat
Police officers in North Rhine-Westphalia used a Taser 1245 times this year up to the beginning of December. In 2022, there were only 734 uses of the stun gun in the same period. As the Ministry of the Interior emphasizes, in the vast majority of cases, the threat was enough to trigger the Taser. Only one in five cases was actually fired.
Specifically, the threat was used in 1003 deployments this year (80.56 percent). The rate was almost the same as in 2022 (80.11%). According to the ministry, the fact that there were more deployments with the Taser overall is due to the fact that more police officers are now equipped with them.
In 2021 - when the stun gun was still being tested in just four authorities - there were only 197 deployments. From 2022, the Taser was gradually distributed to more regions, with 18 out of 47 district police authorities now equipped.
The black-green coalition agreement stipulates that the first step is to look at how things are going in the relevant authorities. Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) and the trade unions repeatedly emphasize the de-escalating effect of the devices.
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The Taser was primarily used as a threat by the police in North Rhine-Westphalia, with 1003 instances this year, highlighting the de-escalating effect the Ministry of the Interior has emphasized. The North Rhine-Westphalia Police Department's increased use of Tasers can be attributed to more officers being equipped with the devices, as mentioned in the coalition agreement. Due to this increase in deployment, the total number of Taser use cases has risen, even though the actual use of the stun gun has remained relatively constant.
Source: www.stern.de
