Tasers used by police more than 10,000 times

"New figures show the controversial weapons were drawn or fired 10,488 times in England and Wales in the 12 months to the end of June..."

"Home Office data showed the controversial weapons - which fire two electrodes to deliver a high-voltage shock and incapacitate the target - were used 10,488 times in the 12 months to the end of June."

"It was a 13 per cent increase on the previous 12 months (9,289) but there was a slight dip in the number of incidents in the latter half of the period, from January to June this year."

"A detailed breakdown of figures in the first six months of this year showed the weapons were fired 826 times."

"West Midlands fired the weapons more than any other force - 120 times - including the far larger Metropolitan Police, which discharged the "less lethal" weapons 114 times."

"A separate inquiry is underway into the use of Tasers on three teenage boys with severe learning difficulties, aged 14 and 15, who were stunned by officers from Devon and Cornwall Police at a school near Plymouth after reports of a violent incident at the end of last year. "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11163634/Tasers-used-by-police-more-than-10000-times-last-year.html

Here`s the Guardian:

　
"The school, which is owned by the Priory Group, specialises in children with learning difficulties including behavioural, emotional and social difficulties and autism."

"It is a day and residential school for boys and girls aged seven to 19, and is owned by the company known for its addiction clinics favoured by celebrities."

"Devon and Cornwall police also is being investigated by the police watchdog over an incident in which a man who doused himself in petrol burst into flames when he was shot with a Taser."

"Figures released to parliament earlier this year showed armed officers discharged, targeted or threatened to use Tasers against youngsters more than 320 times in 2011 – an 11-fold increase from the first year they were cleared for use against under-18s in 2007.

"In the first year of officers being cleared to Taser children, they were used 29 times in England. By 2009, this had increased to 135."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/23/ipcc-police-taser-boys-plymouth-school

Update http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-officer-will-not-face-charges-for-tasering-man-doused-in-petrol-who-caught-fire-and-died-9799952.html