English Police to get 10,000 more Taser stun guns

by Dave Keating | November 24, 2008 at 02:38 am

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British police in England and Wales are set to be given 10,000 more taser stun guns. British police do not carry guns (except for a select few special armed units), so stun guns are particularly useful for them.

Tens of thousands of police officers across England and Wales are to be allowed to use high-voltage Taser stun guns, the government said on Monday.

Funding will be provided for police chiefs to buy an extra 10,000 of the weapons -- which are designed to temporarily disable a suspect -- after a year-long trial in 10 police forces, a home office spokesman said.

Under the pilot, non-firearms officers were given special training to use the stun guns to deal with potentially violent suspects. Previously, use of Tasers had been restricted to just 6,500 authorised firearms officers.