Public disorders monopolize half of police actions with electric guns | Spain

Plus the National Police than the Civil Guard. More frequently in January than in February. And mainly to face crimes against public order. The statistics of the Ministry of Interior reflect that, in the first two months of 2025, both security forces used 22 times electric guns « Officially called » electric immobilizers « or » electronic control devices  » – and that in 11 of them was to deal with this crime, according to the government in a parliamentary response to the deputy of EH Bildu Jon Iñarritu to which the country has had access.

In addition to counteracting cases of public disorders, these devices have also been used in these two months four times to deal with episodes of gender violence. The rest of the crimes for which shots were made with them were two of attacks on authority agents, one of injuries, a homicide, one against heritage and one of minor threats in the family. In one case, the parliamentary response does not specify why it was used when describing the « motive » as « without a defined scope. » For police bodies, the National Police has used them 18 times and the Civil Guard, in four. Sevilla, with three episodes, is the province in which he has shot most in this 2025 start, followed by Alicante, Cádiz, Baleares, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia and Pontevedra, with two in each. Agents from the provinces of Cuenca, Granada, Huesca, Las Palmas and Toledo also resorted to them.

The electric guns – known by their commercial name, Taser – throw darts with electrodes united to the weapon through a cable that, when reaching the body, causes a discharge that interferes with the signals that the brain sends to the muscles and temporarily incapacitates the one who receives the impact. These devices are exclusively police or military, and cannot be acquired by individuals, According to the weapons regulation. Its use has been surrounded by controversy for years to relate to deaths in different countries, as Amnesty International has repeatedly denounced. In Spain, a court investigates death, in December 2021, of a man that 24 hours before had been reduced by the Mossos in Badalona (Barcelona) with one of these weapons. « It is a potentially harmful weapon, especially if used against people who are under the effects of drugs or alcohol, or who present mental crisis, such as this case, » says Daniel Canales, a researcher at Amnesty International. The Ombudsman has also warned in his reports On the risk of « an abusive use » of this weapon After remembering that « they cause pain and suffering. »

On the contrary, police and civil guards defend their use. Sources of the Unified Police Union (SUP) – Organization that insistently claimed for years that electric guns were part of the agents – emphasize as a guarantee of their correct use the fact that all the actions are recorded with video cameras that are automatically activated when the weapon is developed. In addition, they insist that, in most cases, it is not necessary to shoot because it works as a deterrent. The Interior Ministry, in The tender for the acquisition in 2019 of the first 1,000 of these guns for the National Police At 2,100 euros each, it justified their purchase in which with them the need to “achieve the highest possible level in health and safety” of the agents in the performance of their functions was covered, in addition to considering them an “operational element (…) to graduate the use of force and use it as an intermediate solution to the firearm in high risk situations for the police or third parties”.

In Spain, the National Police currently has 1,600 devices and has already tendered a new contract to acquire a minimum of 3,500 to 2028, according to the general director, Francisco Pardo, in the Senate last December. The Civil Guard has 400 units although its head -headed, Mercedes González, detailed in March in Congress that he hopes to acquire 800 more in the next four years. These weapons are also part of the provision of the agents of the Ertzaintza, the Mossos d’Esquadra and the local police of at least 62 municipalities of 13 autonomous communities, according to a recent report by Amnesty International.

The National Police elaborated in 2020shortly after receiving the first units of these guns, a protocol for the use of « electric immobilizers. » It specified that they can only be used to “reduce, immobilize or stop” people who resist, have a violent attitude or threaten with white weapons and dangerous objects to agents or third people. He also contemplated his job against suicide attempts. On the contrary, it prohibited its use with children, pregnant, elderly and « weak health people. » He also vetoed them in prisons, except in the case of riots or hostage taking; in manifestations; near flammable substances; Or when the objective is in places where you can precipitate in the void, since the discharge causes the loss of motor capacity. Before being equipped with these guns, Agents receive a specific 12 -hour training course.

Amnesty International has repeatedly asked to unify the protocols to use the electric guns and that interior creates unique legislation for all police forces. « It takes greater control of its use and that is detailed under what circumstances are used and why no less harmful method has been used, » adds channels. In April 2021, the Ombudsman also requested in the interior that he regulated in a « exhaustive and detailed » way the use of electronic control devices for all police forces.