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Taser’s stock had the biggest rise in seven years after the United Kingdom announced on Monday it would fund the purchase of 10,000 of the Scottsdale company’s stun guns.
The good news for Taser soured somewhat today, though, after New Scotland Yard, headquarters of London’s famous Metropolitan Police, said it wanted no part of the deal — for now, anyway.
Reports from London don’t predict exactly how Scotland Yard’s decision would affect the UK’s Home Office plan to spend eight million pounds on Tasers and distribute them to police forces nationwide. At least one English county department welcomed the idea, but the Met police, who patrol greater London, are the largest police force in the country.
News outlets repoted that the the Metropolitan Police Authority, which oversees the Met, issued a statement today saying the Met had “no intention of immediately sanctioning any increase in the availability of Tasers to officers in the Met.”
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The agency also stated:
The MPA recognises the potential to cause fear and damage public confidence if the use of Tasers is extended to non-specialist trained police officers and is perceived by the public to be indiscriminate.
Taser stock continued to climb despite the news (which seems to be under-reported so far in the United States, judging by a Google search), rising by nearly 7 percent. — Ray Stern
