Taser Gun 'Shock' Move To Go Ahead

There will be a shock in store for those attempting to evade justice early next year as Northern Ireland gears up with controversial Taser stun guns - and there'll be no hiding place in London either.

Police Service of Northern Ireland officers will be equipped with the electric stun weapons from early next year and London's Metropolitan police has also just announced that it will allow more officers to use the Tasers.

Local PSNI specialist firearms offices are to be trained in January in the use of the controversial electric stun guns that hit a human target with a disabaling 50,000 volts.

In London, where previously only firearms officers could use them - and only when confronted by an armed attacker - officers from other units are now able to use the Tasers too.

In Northern Ireland, PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde has this week told members of the NI Policing Board that a pilot scheme would be set up.

The move is already controversial as board members said they are unhappy he was going ahead with the move before all relevant public bodies were consulted.

Previously, the former Police Ombudsman – whose office would be responsible for investigating any complaints from the public about their use – also questioned their deployment.

The now retired Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, said if she felt there was a need for Tasers, she would say so.

"I have no say as to whether the police chose to use Tasers or not. That is a policing decision which they will make.

"But if it were that I found there was a need for something like a Taser, then I would feel entitled to say it."

She said: "I haven't identified such a gap yet."

Although Tasers are already in use by police forces in England, Scotland, Wales and the USA, in October, the Policing Board voted in favour of a motion that Tasers should not be deployed until an equality impact assessment is completed.

Human rights experts who advise the Board have expressed concern about the use of the stun gun.

However, others will point out that Tasers, which use an electric current to stun and immobilise violent offenders, are an alternative to deadly force.

Just this week, for example, an inquest was told that a police officer fired a single gunshot in self-defence when he was attacked by a man with a weapon he at the time believed to be a hatchet.

The man died, and while no charges were brought in that incident, the violent man could have been immobilised by such a weapon, rather than killed.

See: Fatal Shot Fired In Self Defence, Inquest Told

(BMcC)