Police to be armed with stun guns

Taser stun guns are used by police forces in Britain

Taser stun guns will be used by officers of the Northern Ireland Police Service from early next year.

Specialist firearms officers are to trained in January in the use of the controversial electric stun guns that hit a human target with 50,000 volts.

Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde told members of the Policing Board that a pilot scheme would be set up.

The board said it was unhappy he was going ahead with the move before all relevant public bodies were consulted.

However, the chief constable said that only officers from the specialist operations branch would be trained in the use of tasers and the pilot would "encompass potentially violent situations and pre-planned operations".

Sir Hugh said the PSNI was the only force in the UK and Ireland not to have tasers and he "has had sleepless nights about officers using firearms when they could have a less lethal option available to them".

In October, the board voted in favour of a motion that tasers should not be deployed until an equality impact assessment was completed.

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

Tasers are already in use by police forces in England, Scotland, Wales and the USA.