Emergency Driver and Taser Training
Date of request: 12 February 2021
Reference: 192/21
Request
Please provide the number of police officers currently trained to the response/standard of emergency driving. Additionally, please specify the number of officers within their probationary period that are trained to response/standard level and whether this level of driving training is available to officers within their probationary period.
If possible, please include a copy of the driving policy.
Please also provide the number of officers trained in Taser across the force, and the number of those in their probationary period (if none, whether there are plans to extend Taser training to probationary officers).
Response
We currently have 786 staff trained to standard/response level driver training.
The information is not broken down to provide separate figure for those probationary constables. Allocation of courses is a management decision based upon business need, there is no specific policy preventing a probationary constable from this training.
The procedural guidance for driver authorisation is attached.
Please note that the guidance contains some redactions. In assessing whether employees have a reasonable expectation that their names will not be disclosed, their level of seniority and responsibility has been considered, therefore you will see some names have been removed, whilst others have remained.
The exemption applicable to this is Section 40(2), third party personal information. This is an Absolute exemption so therefore there is no requirement to conduct a harm or public interest test. Any information is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act if it relates to or is supplied by another individual and disclosure of that information would contravene any of the principles the principles set out in:
(a) Article 5(1) of the GDPR, and
(b) section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018;
We currently have 649 officers Trained in Taser X2 across the Force. None of those officers are in their probation.
One of the Pre-requisites set out by the College of Policing is ‘The officer is confirmed in their rank’
No information is held concerning any intentions to extend training to probationers.