‘Tasers for all officers by 2022’

ALL police officers will be armed with a Taser within three years because so many officers are being attacked, a top former Midlands officer predicted.

Northamptonshire Police chief Nick Adderley said he believed the stun guns would be issued as standard protective equipment due to worrying levels of violence.

It comes after his force recorded almost a 50% increase in assaults on police officers in the last two years.

He said: “I’ve made the prediction that, probably within the next three years, Tasers will be considered as personal protective equipment and will be issued alongside batons, gas and cuffs.

“As we see society changing – and unless there’s going to be major U-turn over the next couple of years – I actually think it’s right and proper... There has to be a reaction and a consequence to the level of violence towards emergency service workers, particularly police officers.”

Mr Adderley, who used to work for Staffordshire Police, added that the move would make fiscal sense because some officers had been off sick for up to four years after being attacked.

He said he would prioritise arming officers who respond to 999 and 101 calls and neighbourhood officers who often work alone in “isolated areas”.

“If you think about the number of officers I’m losing through injury, who are off sick, it makes more fiscal sense to actually invest to this level,” he added.

“This isn’t just about verbal altercations or a bit of pushing and shoving. This is the real high end of grievous bodily harm or actual bodily harm which we’ve started to see an increase in. We’re going to have to respond and react to that.”