More Belgian police officers permitted to use tasers

Regular intervention teams from local and federal police forces will now be permitted to carry and use tasers in Belgium, following a pilot project involving 15 local police zones.

Previously classified as specialised weaponry, tasers could only be used by federal police special units and the special intervention teams of local police forces. With their reclassification as collective weaponry, regular intervention teams from local police forces and frontline services of the federal police can now carry tasers in their service vehicles.

This change provides officers with an additional “less-lethal weapon” alongside batons and pepper spray. Tasers are intended to bridge the gap between those options and the use of firearms, particularly in situations such as confronting individuals armed with knives. 

Policy shift

Officers must complete extensive training and participate in regular refresher courses before being authorised to carry a taser. The decision to adopt tasers remains at the discretion of each local police force.

The policy shift follows a pilot programme launched in 2017, during which 15 local police zones trained members of their regular intervention teams to use tasers. The deployment and usage of the devices were consistently evaluated. 

“The decision to reclassify tasers as collective weaponry was ultimately made in response to requests from police services themselves, based on the positive conclusions of the final evaluation,” said a spokesperson for Interior minister Annelies Verlinden.

^{A police officer patrols in Brussels © BELGA PHOTO HATIM KAGHAT}