§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the police forces in England and Wales which currently hold stocks of plastic baton rounds; how many such baton rounds are held by each force; what form of training for their use is supplied; how many officers have been so trained; if he will place in the Library a copy of the current instructions relating to their use; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe following police forces are understood to hold stocks of plastic baton rounds:
- Metropolitan Police
- Avon and Somerset Essex
- Humberside
- Lancashire
- Leicestershire
307 - Lincolnshire
- Merseyside
- North Wales
- North Yorkshire
- Sussex
- Warwickshire
- Wiltshire
It would not be conducive to operational effectiveness to give details of the number of baton rounds held by individual forces or the full text of guidelines on their operational use that have been issued to chief officers of police.
However, the guidelines stipulate that baton rounds, which must be of a type authorised by the Home Office, are to be used only with the express authority of the chief officer of police (or, in his absence, his deputy), under the direction and control of a senior officer whom he has designated as officer in charge and by police officers who have been trained in the use of the equipment and know its characteristics.
They are to be used only as a last resort in cases where conventional methods of policing have been tried and failed or must, from the nature of the cirucumstances obtaining, be unlikely to succeed if tried, and where the chief officer judges such action to be necessary because of the risk of loss of life or serious injury or widespread destruction of property. Whenever practicable, a public warning of their use is to be given.
Nothing in the guidelines affects the principle set out in section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 that only the minimum force necessary in the circumstances must be used. The degree of force justified will vary according to the circumstances in each case.
I shall write to the hon. Member about police training in the use of baton rounds.