Zack Polanski has been lambasted over the Green Party's "ridiculous" plan to remove pepper sprays and tasers from Britain's police officers.
Speaking to GB News, the former Head of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office Chris Phillips hit out at the "ridiculous" pledge by the Green Party.
Green members are considering a motion that would remove tasers and pepper spray from police officers as part of a major overhaul of crime and justice policy.
The suggested proposals also include scrapping the Government's Prevent counterterrorism programme, ending routine police presence in schools and shifting funding away from policing and prisons, moving towards a "utopia" where we don't need prisons at all.
Mr Polanski has claimed the policy was "not yet being considered" in a post on social media.
He said: "In the Green Party, any member can propose a policy. It's in our constitution, and members decide whether to debate it.
"So when the media presents that as the Green Party 'proposing' a policy, they’re misleading you."
Reacting to the party's pledge, Mr Phillips told GB News that it is nothing more than "sixth form politics".
He said: "Well, this is really sixth form politics and it's a group of people or a person who's come out with an idea that it's just so ridiculous, we shouldn't even really be talking about it.
"The simple fact is that tasers were brought in as a measure to stand between having no protection and using guns, and the simple point is these sort of things are used in situations to prevent violence from escalating.
"Someone who's come up with this idea really has not got any experience of the subject matter they're talking about, so it's just crazy."
Disagreeing with Mr Phillips, CEO of Communities Against Violence Ken Hinds argued that some police officers equipped with tasers and pepper spray can "cause harm or even death" if in the wrong hands.
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He argued: "I'm just raising concerns about officers carrying equipment that can harm others, and where I'm coming from is it's about the temperament of that officer and the judgement.
"As a person who has actually been on the front line, I've actually talked to some of these new recruits and seeing that they're not quite ready to be put in that position, to make that kind of big decision."
Responding to Mr Hinds, Mr Phillips acknowledged that although some bad police officers can "slip through the net" during recruitment, the main concern is officers "being able to protect themselves".
He told GB News: "I have no doubt the recruitment has been very, very difficult and people have got through the net, I have no doubt about that.
"Right through history, bad people have become police officers and of course bad things have happened.
"But that doesn't take us away from the fact that we expect the police to protect themselves and to protect us.
"If you have someone with a knife coming at you, you have a duty to give that officer some protection, but also allow the officer to protect members of the public."
He continued: "And the whole point of pepper spray and Tasers is the fact that it doesn't take someone's life pretty much ever.
"There has been the odd incident, I think where it's been misused. But generally it's an instant, a finish to the situation and allows the person to be arrested without too much violence.
"I'd rather be tased and hit over the head with a stick, and I think we've got to be sensible about this where we live in a world where people do carry knives and we have to be able to deal with that."
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