MANCHESTER's Chief Constable Mike Todd put himself in the firing line by allowing himself to be shot by a Taser stun gun - and then called for them to be made more widely available to frontline officers.
But his call comes as Home Office minister and local MP Hazel Blears insists the weapons should not be given to all officers.
Mr Todd volunteered to be shot by a 50,000-volt Taser after praising them in a speech to officers earlier this year.
The weapons, which fire metal barbs into the skin before delivering an incapacitating electrical charge, are used in situations when previously-armed officers could have no option but to shoot a suspect dead. The gun's developers say they are perfectly safe, but Amnesty International claims 74 people have died in the US after being fired on.
Two months after his speech, Mr Todd demonstrated his confidence in Tasers in the car park of the force's firearms unit where he was on the receiving end of an agonising electrical blast from firearms officer Sgt Mike Keyworth.
Standing 10ft away, Sgt Keyworth issued a clear warning before pulling the trigger, just as he would have done on the frontline.
He shouted: "Michael, Michael, I have got a Taser, stand still. Taser, Taser."
As he lay on the ground the tiny wires trailing from his body to the gun continue to release the charge for what seems like an age, but was just five seconds.
Police firearm officers then knelt beside him on the ground, and prevented him from getting up until the barbs were removed from his skin. Within seconds, he had recovered but was still shaken up.
He said: "It was incredibly painful but I feel fine now. I couldn't move, it hurt like hell, I wouldn't want to do that again. I've never experienced anything like it. You just seem to freeze. If I was carrying a weapon and about to attack a member of the public when this happened, I couldn't have done anything at all, which is why it is important that we have them."
Mr Todd said the new weapon, currently only used by authorised firearms officers, could help save the lives of ordinary beat bobbies.
He said: "I would like to see a situation, gradually and after training is given, to make it available to more than just firearms officers. Our men and women out on the streets need it as a more readily available tool they can deploy. It could save the lives of officers and the public and the man himself."
But in an article in the Police Review magazine, Ms Blears called the gun a "dangerous weapon" which was not an "everyday weapon" appropriate for use in "everyday circumstances".She said: "I would not want to see everyone on the streets having that kind of weapon.
"I am concerned that officers sometimes come up against pretty violent individuals and obviously I want to make sure they have sufficient protective equipment to make sure they are not in danger.
"I think we should have the flexibility to use it more widely than we do at the moment.
"But I am not convinced that every police officer on a neighbourhood team should be equipped with a Taser."
Should taser guns be more widely used? Have your say.
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Would we really need these Taser guns if we went back to days when one of the criteria for being a police officer was that you had to be a minimum six foot in height to apply. With the ever increasing numbers of midget policemen we now see patrolling the streets on the rare occasion you do see one, is it any wonder today's violent thugs are making them run scared of tackling them with their truncheons. This situation is not helped by the increasing number of five foot nothing policewomen who have to patrol in pairs for their own protection never mind tackling criminals. Get the six foot policeman back on the streets so they can patrol safely alone & give these useless policewoman's role to social services to carry out, which will then give us a greater police presence on the streets to nip these budding young criminals bad behaviour in the bud before it starts with a few well timed whacks around the skull with his truncheon.
If they are "perfectly safe" why did they need a "blue crash mat"? Oh! just so that he did not injure himself when he fell!!!
ms blears you seem all too often unaware of the true realities of life on the streets of britain thats the real britain. for me the police can take out the crims with a kalishnikov if it meant there would be one less armed robber or thief. zero tolerance worked admirably on the streets of new york how about a tightening up of laws in this country. you ought to go out on patrol without your security entourage and photographer with GMP on a saturday night and also visit the hospitals afterwards.
What a typical looney left answer !!Hazel Blears needs to go on the beat withour policemen and woman for a few months and then maybe she would have a taste of the real world ? Our police need these wepons for self defence against societys hardned criminals and people who are high on drugs ect .When will these "Looney labour" politicians grow up and start living in the same world as their constituants and leave the police to do thier work
Mr Todd is proving to be a fine chief constable, all credit to him for volunteering to be tasered,well done.
Let's put this into perspective. If a guy is running around threatening the public or the police for that matter then shoot to kill. Let's not beat about the bush, there is no place in society for scum like this.
Now the Taser, give it to all officers so that they can protect themselves while they try to protect the public. If some druken scum threatens an officer, use the taser, why should they put themselves in the firing line.
We live in a society where law and order is breaking down. Police should have the right tools for the job.
I would support all officers having a Taser but only if they then had to justify their use on every occasion when they were used. There is just too much risk of injury to the suspect to justify their use unless the safety of an officer or member of the public is in jeopardy.
Richard Everard hits the thug (sorry, nail) on the head. Dump these wimps of men and weak women. They can change the film in the speed cameras. Put some big lads on the ground (with a couple in the Chopper) and don't hamstring them by requiring them to ask 'please can I put these handcuffs on you' Give them a big stick and permission to use it, along with the tazer, pistol & spray. No questions to be asked after. Police State? GOOD! Oh, by the way, that Chopper - half a dozen Air to Car missiles please.
Yes, give the taser to all frontline police officers. They are not going to run around zapping people willy nilly. They will still have to justifice it's use.
I have never had to use my CS spray or ASP on anyone, but you need to have them for the situations that can't be resolved by communication and a firm hand.
Good to see Mike Todd putting his money where his mouth is.
NO frontline officers shouldn't have Tasers;they could accidentally shoot the wrong person by mistake, who could then sue that officer responsible and rightly claim for human rights damages from GMP through the European Court Of Human Rights. If I had my way Tasers would be illegal and taken away for good, the long batons are better and can trip or knock a person over without shocking them or causing serious injury.
To Hazel Blears and Amnesty International - none of you live in real world do you? However, we are all having to live in the world which you have made - and it sucks.
If either Ms Blears or any senior member of Amnesty would like to volunteer to take the place of a hostage, or even act as shields for members of the public who are being terrorised by gunmen and knifemen, then be my guest.
I'll put my money on the Taser!
To the whets I'd say, "Grow up and get your priorities right. If you've not done any wrong, then no-one's going to stun you with a Taser, are they?"
After working in country's that Police are issued with firearms as standard, i believe the uk should follow in there footsteps.
Why is Britain always last in everything. IE id cards, europe has had them for years. police still with a staff.
Issue all police officers with weapons is a must.
We want to be part of europe then arm your police as europe does.
yes lets be america were nearly there give the police the power to shoot you and criminals will arm themselves these tazers are available in europe oh ye were part of europe on a recent visit to yorkshire in a sleepy little village the local gunshop sells guns over the counter that fire real bullets but its ok not to worry you cant buy bullets in the uk thats ok be real please cheap trip abroad will sort that out my point is this if these can be bought because of a loop hole how many more holes are there in this law close thes shops down rugulate airrifle laws some of these guns can fire long distances stop the sale of childrens guns toys any thing that imitates a gun and the look at this again tazers in the wrong hands these can be very lethal and the police are not saints there always be one that shoots to hurt someone because they can how many are going to stop when will they shoot you when they cant catch you or you look at them the wrong way leave tasers to the firearms men trained and councilled on the proper use of firearms the experts say no this or make the streets unsafe
All officers should be issued with Tasers as it will make criminals think twice and keep officers at a safe distance while tackling everyone for aniti-social behaviour to bank robbers.
People do not realise officers can kill a criminal with an iron bar as long as justified but are not able to shock them into submission alot like the less lethal option of CS/Captor.
I hope the blue mat is standard issue for all of those politically correct people out there.
There's not many bosses that would do what Mr Todd has done - fair play to you boss.
Only could the person who authorised the sending out of those letters not have gone in the firing line instead of you - you are alot more of an asset t lose!
one is not enough let them all try it b4 there allowed to carry it
All these comments assume that the Police will only use it when absolutely necessary and without excessive force. I am all for taking toerags off the streets and harsher punishments, but there are too many variables here to jump straight in. 1. Potential to go WAY too far when using a Taser. 2. The risk of escalation is the same as arming beat officers with guns - the crims won't bother with carrying Tasers to match this, they will just carry more guns and be more willing to use them. 3. Never seen the Police go overboard with CS gas? They do it on an all too regular basis! The majority of bobbies would be ok carrying them, its the minority of megalomaniac 'little hitlers' I worry about.
Hazel Blears is typical of all politicians, she suffers from selective hearing. No doubt she will have been shown the Taser and had it explained exactly how it works and yet she still makes misinformed statements regarding it's use. For your benefit I'll explain how it works and the pro's and cons of it's use and then you can all make an informed opinion (for a change,judging by SOME of the comments on here).
Firstly, in thousands and thousands of activations the Taser has been proved not to cause injury neither minor of serious. It does NOT work by pain compliance but momentarily interupts the central nervous system incapacitating a person. They do not lose conciousness but they are helpless despite their pain threshhold or tolerance towards C.S or pepper spray. And yet they are fully recovered within moments. There is not a person on this planet who will be able to withstand the effects of a Taser. Now compare that with a baton, the police are not trained to hit with differing degrees of force, if it is justified use you will be hit as hard as possible without question more than resulting in serious or even permanant trauma. CS,cannot be used in enclosed spaces many people have tolerance towards it. Baton guns, the effects vary from no effect to death. Taser is by far the most consistant. The reported deaths in America from Taser use have in every case not been directly attributable and have in every case been down to a secondary cause such as drug misuse, or a person coming into contact with another object whilst falling. It does'nt matter how big you are, if you faced with a person with a samurai sword or other such lethal object you have no chance with a baton. The only option is to stop that person with a conventional firearm which will more than likely result in death. If Taser had been present at the time
Stephen Oake would be alive and there would be an officer at work in Rawtenstall and not in Preston hospital today.
If the general public only knew what REALLY goes on out there... you'd back us to be armed with Tazers immediately! But you don't. You only see the *edited* version of events, and in a lot of cases, it's the anti-police version!
We are the only European country where the police aren't routinely armed with handguns, but have much the same problems.
This is the only country where criminals are allowed to run riot, and the police are criticised for using reasonable force when trying to stop them!
If you've done nothing wrong, then you've nothing to fear.
Personally, I'd rather be 'tazered' than sprayed with CS or struck with the baton.
I think these guns should be used more often in Greater Manchester especially to frontline officers, who have no great protection.
There are to many human rights these days, people here can be to soft. If the people are warned and still acting as a crinimal should be stunned.
So yes we should have tasers to all police like america.
i think that evrey force that provides a service , I.E ambulance, Police ,Fire officer should be armed with a hand taser for attacks that may occur on innocent people doing there job , also they should make them legal to genral public, but have a power limit so that they cannot provide a blow that is to lethal protecting pple from drunkarn attackers or pple
yes they should be available to all officers.