The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) will oversee an investigation by Devon and Cornwall police into officers’ use of Taser on pupils at a Devon school for children with learning difficulties in December.
According to the independent commission, the device was used on three pupils aged between 14 and 15 at Chelfham Senior School in Bere Alston by officers responding to reports of a violent incident. Chelfham is a specialist day and residential school for boys and girls aged 7 to 19 years who have complex learning difficulties including behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) and autism.
The force referred details of the incident to the IPCC on December 7 and IPCC Associate Commissioner Tom Milsom said: “From the review we have carried out of Taser complaints we have specific concerns about some of the ways and circumstances in which it is used.
“We have asked Devon and Cornwall Constabulary to carry out a supervised investigation into the incident at Chelfham Senior School so that the public can be reassured that the examination of this incident receives independent oversight.”
