High-voltage stun guns to be issued to police

London: 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, 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 Tasers to deal with potentially violent suspects. Previously, use of Tasers had been restricted to just 6,500 authorised firearms officers.

Home Office Minister Alan Campbell told BBC radio the stun guns would only be used by specialist officers under strict guidelines.

"We don't expect them to be the weapon of choice," he said, adding that independent medical advice received after the pilot had found there was a very low risk of death or serious injury.

Campbell said Tasers had only been used 93 times in more than 600 deployments this year.

The weapons temporarily disable a suspect by firing two barbed darts trailing electric wires. Human rights groups oppose their widespread use because they have been linked with dozens of deaths in the United States and Canada.