Police chief: All frontline officers can have a Taser

A POLICE chief yesterday declared that all of her frontline officers who want a Taser on duty will get one.

The announcement came after a string of serious attacks on officers, and one killing, in recent weeks.

Durham Police’s new chief constable Jo Farrell said her 1,500 frontline staff will be offered Tasers and training to use the non-lethal weapons.

It follows a declaration by Northamptonshire’s chief constable Nick Adderley this week that every frontline officer in his force could have a Taser, as the risks they face had risen ‘dramatically’.

This month senior officers said the weapon, pictured, had saved a Scotland Yard officer’s rs life during a brutal attack by a man with a machete.

PC Stuart rt Outten Tasered asered his assailantnt as he was being stabbed in the head byy a driver who he had stopped in Leyton, east London on August 8.

A week laterter PC Andrew Harper was mown down and killed as he responded to the burglary of a quad bike in Berkshire.

Yesterday Miss Farrell said: ‘Sadly, there are situations in which police officers need to take immediate action to subdue violent suspects to protect the public.

‘Tasers allow us to do so swiftly and safely, without causing lasting injury and are an extremely effective means of dealing with the many dangerous situations officers find themselves in.’

When Durham introduced Tasers in 2005, they were issued to a handful of firearms officers.

Three years later – despite concerns about their effectiveness – the Home Office said all frontline officers could have the devices, which deliver up to 50,000 volts, leaving suspects incapacitated so they can be restrained.

Last year a Cambridge University study found officers carrying Tasers were almost 50 per cent more likely to use force – and also more likely to be assaulted.

Human rights charity Amnesty has said the public should ‘resist the drum-beat of calls for all police to carry a Taser’.

The Home Office said decisions on Tasers should be left to chief constables.