Taser guns were given the go-ahead by the Northern Ireland Policing Board today for use throughout the six counties.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland had been using the controversial electro-shock weapon under a pilot scheme but the Board’s move will allow chief constable Sir Hugh Orde to roll the deployment out fully.
The pilot scheme was introduced in January and the gun has been used on one occasion since then, in Derry in August.
The Board’s decision follows the recommendations of human rights experts who helped carry out an equality impact assessment on the use of Tasers.
Board members voted 12-3 in favour, with the three Sinn Fein representatives opposing the move. The republicans wanted the decision deferred until a forthcoming judicial review of the weapon’s use was heard.
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) policing board member Peter Weir welcomed the move.
“Tasers are used by every police force in the British Isles, including the Gardaí. They have rightly been recognised as a useful and valuable tool in the fight against crime,” he said.
“Considering the only circumstances in which Tasers can be deployed is when a police officer would ordinarily have to deploy a firearm, it seems entirely logical to support their introduction for use by the PSNI.
“Would the opponents of tasers rather that police officers were forced to use handguns in every situation where a taser should be used or perhaps they would like to make it impossible for the police to use necessary and proportionate force in order to defend innocent members of the public?”
PA