COMMENT

Northants Police Chief Constable

I AM not saying Taser is going to create a violence or assault-free service.

It just isn’t and it isn’t the panacea, but what it does do is provide officers with another option and another tactic to try and neutralise the threat towards them.

We know if an officer is assaulted and is knocked unconscious, or goes down, they are in a really vulnerable position.

Last year we lost millions of pounds to days sick and to officers who were off due to the assaults against them.

So by doing this my hope is officers will feel better protected.

I think it’s fair to say I have been surprised by the level of support because I thought it would have been more contentious, certainly with the public.

It didn’t come as a major surprise because I understand how Northamptonshire Police feels around having options to deal with increased levels of violence towards officers.