EVERY frontline police officer in Hampshire should be armed with a Taser gun in a bid to combat violence on the county’s streets.

That is the ultimate aim of Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Hayes, who has set aside £380,000 of the force’s £310m budget to buy the 50,000- volt weapons and to train officers how to use them.

The move comes just a month after the Daily Echo revealed how new Chief Constable Andy Marsh wanted to equip more officers with the weapons.

His call followed figures that revealed 70 crimes involving firearms in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight during the past year and after repeated attacks and assaults on officers and PCSOs.

A Taser is described as a “less lethal” weapon in a situation where once a firearm may have been used to deal with a violent or life-threatening situation.

It fires needle-tip darts, attached to wires that carry an electric charge, into offenders to temporarily paralyse them.

Currently, only firearms officers are able to use the weapon and respond to call outs from colleagues who encounter armed or violent criminals.

Mr Hayes said: “I would like to have Tasers available to every frontline officer. Obviously, they would have to have the appropriate training.

“It will cost a lot but they protect officers and it protect the public.”

Mr Hayes added the weapon would not be available to police community support officers, just the force’s 2,250 frontline officers.

John Apter, chairman of the county’s police federation, backed the idea of making Tasers available to frontline officers.

He said: “I know there will be a small element of the public that will be concerned but the evidence clearly shows that Tasers prevent serious injury and the alternative is being shot with a lethal weapon. It’s a less lethal option that society rightly demands.”

Last week Mr Hayes set out four priorities for the force at the unveiling of his Police and Crime Plan.

The plan includes targets such as a 12 per cent reduction in crime by 2014, retaining 200 personnel who would otherwise have left the force, and a three per cent reduction in antisocial behaviour.

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