Stun gun threat acts as deterrent to violence (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Stun gun threat acts as deterrent to violence

A police officer at Wiltshire police headquarters demonstrated the use of the Taser stun gun which delivers a 50,000 volt electric shock to halt violent criminals in their tracks (16323/16)WILTSHIRE police showed on Friday why they have not had to use the Taser stun gun in anger despite having it in their arsenal since January.

Although there have been a handful of cases when firearms officers have attended the scene of a disturbance, they have only to take out the 50,000-volt electrical weapon to persuade an offender that co-operating with the law would be a less painful option.

Assistant Chief Constable Julian Kirby says the fact that the force has had the weapon on hand for five months without drawing attention to itself is evidence enough to show its effectiveness.

He told the Gazette at Friday's press launch: "To be honest, it is a fairly routine piece of police equipment and did not warrant publicity in itself.

"But with recent stories about it in the Press, mainly of abuses of it in America, we felt we had to show what a first class piece of kit it is."

PC Paul Goddard agreed to be the guinea pig for the demonstration, although he was not actually speared by the twin barbs ejected by the gun, which stick in the flesh or the clothing of the suspect and deliver the 50,000-volt electric shock into the body.

If he had, he would have experienced five seconds of intense pain as the electric current surged through his body. Police officers were quick to point out that as soon as the current was switched off, the pain would end and the suspect would regain complete use of his or her limbs.

But as long as the barbs stayed attached, they would be able to turn the current on again and immobilise the suspect as many times as was necessary.

Wiltshire now boasts the title of the safest county in England and the number of firearms incidents in a year is minimal. On the other hand, there have been 94 reports of ball-bearing guns or imitation firearms being brandished in public in the first three months of this year.

At a distance and in the dark it is often impossible to see whether it is a real firearm or not. Previously the only answer was to threaten the assailant with a live gun and, if that did not work, to fire the gun.

The Taser is described as a non-lethal means of countering a threat from a firearm. It would be used in conjunction with a normal firearm, just in case the Taser failed to attach its barbs to the suspect.

Although human rights groups look on the Taser as a threat to the ordinary person in the street, police officers are delighted that they now have something in their armoury to combat the threat of serious violence without risking court action against the officer who fired the weapon.

Phil Davenport, of the Wiltshire branch of the Police Federation, said: "Trials indicate that this is a very useful piece of equipment but there should be far wider access to it for all officers.

"Of course it is not practical for all officers to carry it, but it allows officers to safely take control of violent situations very quickly."

Julian Kirby said the force was following Home Office guidelines by issuing the Taser only to trained firearms officers.

He said: "I can guarantee to all officers that if they need this option, it can be with them at short notice 24 hours a day."

The reason for its success, said Mr Kirby, is that it threatens the kind of experience most people can understand and want to avoid.

He said: "Very few people have been shot, but many of us know what it is like to get an electric shock, and we'd rather not repeat the experience.

"In one case when we have deployed the Taser, just seeing the red dot from the laser targeting system on his clothing was enough to get the suspect to co-operate. We didn't need to fire the Taser."