WILTSHIRE Police is offering voluntary training to any officers who wish to be trained to use a Taser.

Police forces around the country have been responding to the Metropolitan Police’s lead in increasing the number of officers trained to carry Tasers.

Chief Constable Mike Veale says that although Wiltshire is one of the safest counties in the country, it still faces a rise in violent crime and the threat of terrorism remains very real throughout the UK.

The Police Federation of England and Wales has demanded that forces around the country equip police with the devices, after Met Commissioner Cressida Dick revealed 1,867 additional officers would be Taser trained, bringing the total number of officers in the capital trained and carrying Tasers to over 6,400.

Wiltshire Police currently has 160 Tasers.

“The use of Taser has been widely debated and I have carefully considered the options”, said Mr Veale.

“I feel that by giving officers the option to carry Tasers, then we are giving them the choice to use the tools available to us at this time to keep both the public and themselves safe.”

He added: “However, let me make it clear that I see the rollout of Tasers as a preventative measure not an aggressive tool.

“I also want to make it clear that it is not a tool to default to at the earliest opportunity; it needs to be used with precision, wisdom, proportionality and measure.”

In October 2016, a 44-year-old man died after Wiltshire Police officer fired a Taser at him in Warminster. Officers had been called out to attend to the scene, having received reports that a man had harmed himself and was threatening to harm others around him.

An inquest found that the primary cause of death was wounds to the neck.

And in April 2014, Wiltshire PC Lee Birch was acquitted of assault and misconduct after Tasering a naked man who had thrown a pair of underpants at him.

The area’s geography creates unique challenges for police staff, Mr Veale said.

“We have, geographically, a very large force with a huge degree of rurality which often leaves officers and staff working single crewed and on occasions feeling vulnerable to the dangers they may be facing,” he added.

And he added: “Taser can be used effectively as a deterrent or as a way of ending a violent situation where someone is at risk of harm.”

Steve White, Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, has urged the government to increase funding for taser training.

“The dangerous nature of policing is something we’ve seen play out very publicly in recent weeks,” said Mr White. “But these attacks aside, there’s no escaping the facts: violent crime and police assaults are on the rise.

“Forces need support to stem the flow and this is a step in the right direction. But it can’t be done with a click of the fingers. The rigorous training officers undertake to use Taser takes time and costs money.”

Surveys at the end of 2016 showed that 82% of Police Federation members believed tasers should be issued to more frontline officers, while a public survey showed that 71% of considered it acceptable for officers to carry the devices when on patrol.