Met Police officers used taser guns, pepper spray and spit hoods ‘on pregnant women’ after arrest

‘Tasers and spit hoods should be banned, and no pregnant woman should be held in custody. This is uniquely grim evidence of police abuse of power,’ says campaigner

Dame Cressida Dick, the Met Police Commissioner, stepped down from her post as London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan, claimed she had not properly tackled a culture of racism and sexism in the Met (PA Wire)

Metropolitan Police officers shot women who told officers they were pregnant or could be carrying a child with taser guns and hit them with batons after being arrested, new figures show.

Data, obtained by ITV News via freedom of information requests, shows officers wielded force on thousands of women who told officers they were pregnant or could be carrying a child after being arrested.

Force is defined as everything from being handcuffed to drawing a baton, using taser guns, dogs, irritant spray, body restraints, and spit hoods.

The latter are highly controversial mesh guards that are put over individuals’ heads - covering the entirety of their face in a bid to stop suspect’s spitting or biting officers.

But so-called spit hoods have been fiercely criticised and were placed on a number of individuals who died in police custody in the UK and the US.

The fresh data showed there were 2,556 instances when Met Police officers recorded using incapacitant spray or force on women and girls who believed they were pregnant or could be expecting on risk assessments from January 2018 and June 2021.

Metropolitan Police officers made 4,117 arrests of such women during this time which indicates over half of these instances saw some kind of force used on the woman. This saw a taser - which are weapons that temporarily incapacitate individuals via a high-voltage electrical discharge - being wielded in three instances.

Janey Starling co-director of feminist campaign group Level Up, who are campaigning for an end to the imprisonment of pregnant women, told The Independent: “The violence that the police use against any woman is cruel, traumatising and dangerous, especially for pregnant women. Tasers and spit hoods should be banned, and no pregnant woman should be held in custody. This is uniquely grim evidence of police abuse of power.”

The investigation comes as Dame Cressida Dick, the Met Police Commissioner, stepped down from her post after London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan, claimed she had not properly tackled a culture of racism and sexism in the Met. Her departure came just hours after Dick stated she had “absolutely no intention” of exiting her job.

It comes in the context of the police facing mounting criticism for failing to tackle violence against women and girls within their own ranks in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder and rape by a serving Metropolitan Police officer.

Wayne Couzens, who used Covid lockdown restrictions in order to falsely arrest the 33-year-old marketing executive before kidnapping, raping and strangling her, was sentenced to a whole-life prison term in September.

Couzens was reportedly nicknamed “the rapist” by colleagues due to making female officers feel uncomfortable. The officer was accused of several instances of indecent exposure – legally defined as deliberately displaying your genitals in a public space to trigger alarm or distress – before killing Everard.

Meanwhile, Met Police officers were criticised for aggressively grabbing women paying tribute to Everard at a peaceful vigil in Clapham, south London, last March before taking them away while others screamed and cried out.

The fresh data from 15 other police forces revealed at least 3,818 girls and women who said they were pregnant or could be were arrested between January 2018 and June 2021 - with force or restraint wielded in 275 instances.

A 12-year-old girl was the youngest of the individuals to be arrested by a force and have restraint employed on them. She was arrested by the Met back in 2020 but details about the incident were not released due to the information being personal.

A spokesperson for the Met Police has been contacted for comment.