Brown: The SNP dodge key decisions that they need to take

5.12.19pm GMT Wed 24th Feb 2010

The Liberal Democrats will lead a debate in the Scottish Parliament to challenge the decision taken by the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police to issue Taser guns to 30 frontline police officers, following just a three-day training course.

The First Minister has called this an operational decision and has refused to get involved. His own party agree that the use of Tasers should be limited to those who have had firearms training. The Liberal Democrats want to see a full cross party debate on the use of taser guns and are calling on the government to step up to its responsibilities and make sure Ministers have to sign off plans like this.

Commenting ahead of the debate Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesman Robert Brown MSP said:

“The government must step up to its responsibilities and answer the growing number of people calling for a full debate on Tasers.

“Before the weapons were issued to more officers in England, it was signed off by the Home Secretary. But according to the First Minister, in Scotland this is an operational matter and he refuses to get drawn in.

“The First Minister has also given assurances that police officers who are armed with taser guns will be given the same amount of training as firearm officers – 3 days is clearly nowhere near the amount of training firearms officers receive.

“The First Minister’s own party even voted against the full rolling out of tasers to all police officers and want only those who carry tasers to be fully trained firearms officers.

“Safety of police officers is of course absolutely vital but we have always prided ourselves on having an unarmed police force which has good relations with the local community. We should not move away from this without very good reason. There are also concerns about the safety of Tasers.

“I am very disappointed that the SNP government is trying to dodge making key decisions which are for them to take.