FOI Taser Costs (161-2024/25)
Request
Q1. How much money in GBP did the force spend on purchasing tasers, Conducted Energy Devices or equivalent, and the relevant accessories in the financial year 2023 – 2024?
Q2. How much money in GBP did the force spend on purchasing tasers, Conducted Energy Devices or equivalent, and the relevant accessories in the financial year 2022 – 2023?
Q3. How much money in GBP did the force spend on purchasing tasers, Conducted Energy Devices or equivalent, and the relevant accessories in the financial year 2019 – 2020?
Please break this down by the amount spent on taser guns, the amount spent on cartridges, the amount spent on chargers, and ‘other’ if applicable.
Response
Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information
To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.
Decision
I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.
Please see the table below which details the amount spent by North Yorkshire Police on Taser Guns and Cartridges for the financial years 2019-20, 2022-23 & 2023-24, broken down by year.
|
|
2019-20 |
2022-23 |
2023-24 |
|
Taser Guns |
£73,920.00 |
£63,300.00 |
£105,360.00 |
|
Cartridges |
£41,250.00 |
£60,440.00 |
£26,000.00 |
|
Total |
£115,170.00 |
£123,740.00 |
£131,360.00 |
I am exempting the number of individual devices purchased pursuant to Section 43(2) Commercial Interests. Section 43 is a qualified class based exemption and therefore requires me to consider the public interest test.
Factors favouring disclosure
There is a strong public interest in the spends of public funds and disclosing this would adhere to the basic principles of openness and transparency.
Factors favouring non-disclosure
To disclose the number of tasers purchased along with the total spend on tasers, would give competitors a commercial advantage, by making available the cost per item. This would offer an unfair advantage to other companies and diminish the ability of North Yorkshire Police to achieve the best value for money, ultimately undermining the procurement process. North Yorkshire Police take steps to ensure that the products and services it purchases are the best available in terms of quality and cost effectiveness. Disclosure of the information sought would be detrimental in this regard.
Balance test
Whilst North Yorkshire Police recognise the importance of remaining open and transparent with public, this must be weighed against the potential to undermine tendering processes and the best products in terms of quality and effectiveness. It is therefore our opinion that balance lies in favour of non-disclosure at this time.
Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice in response to part of your request.
Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.