Children tasered 345/2025

FOI Reference: 345/25

Request:

I am submitting a Freedom of Information request to obtain data on children under 18 who have had a taser fired at them by police from 2019 to 2024.

Could you please categorise these statistics in a table format using the following requirements:

• The amount of children had a taser fired at them in each individual year.

Then categorised by:

• The child's race and ethnicity.
• Their age, if there's not a specific age was the range between 11-17 or 0-10.
• The reason why the taser was fired, for example, serious or aggravated resistance, aggressive resistance or active resistance.
• Was the child found to have a weapon on them? If so, what type of weapon?
• Was the child injured by the taser being fired.

Response:

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.

2019 – 0

2020 – 1 (age 17, W1 White – British, Active resistance, subject was carrying a weapon (type not stated), minor injury received).

2021 – 1 (age 15, W1 White – British, Aggressive resistance, subject was carrying a weapon (type not stated), no injury).

2022 – 2 (1x age 15, W1 White – British,  Aggressive resistance, subject was not carrying a weapon, no injury & 1x age 17, ethnicity not stated, Active resistance, subject was carrying a weapon (type not stated), no injury).

2023 – 0

2024 – 0                                               

It should be noted that as a result of the systems adopted by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the recording of such information that the information released may or may not be accurate.

Furthermore, it should also be noted that Police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide crime statistics to government bodies and the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the crime data. It should be noted that for these reasons this force's response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 01/04/2025)