Black and mixed race people 'more likely to be Tasered by police in London'

Police in London are more likely to use Tasers on black and mixed race people, figures suggest.

Since 2014, black and mixed race people were on the receiving end of a Met Police Taser 40 per cent of time, according to the Guardian.

This is despite the fact people from these groups accounted for less than one in six of the capital’s residents in the 2011 census.

The figures were taken between January 2014 and September 2016. A black or mixed race person was targeted in 1,530 of a total of 3,815 cases.

They were obtained by a freedom of information (FoI) request and include all the times that officers drew, aimed or fired Tasers while on duty, although the weapons were only discharged in 13 of cases.

The figures also reveal that overall Taser use by the Met increased in 2015 and, based on figures for the first nine months of the year, was due for another increase in last year.

The Met defended its policies for Taser use, insisting that “the ethnicity of the person is completely irrelevant” when officers consider whether to use force.

A spokesman told the Guardian: "The current level of deployment is deemed to be appropriate to the threat and risk faced by officers, doing their duty to protect Londoners."