POLICE in Hampshire will take delivery of 50 new Taser guns in the next few weeks as part of a Government push to help officers deal with “dangerous people” without resorting to firearms.

Until now, use of Tasers has been restricted to dedicated firearms officers but the new weapons will be used much more widely, by specially trained police response officers, where there is serious violence or threats of serious violence.

The guns, which look like fluorescent pistols, use compressed air to fire two darts that trail an electric cable back to the handset.

When the darts strike, a five-second 50,000-volt charge is released down the cable, temporarily paralysing the target’s muscles, leaving them incapacitated and easier to arrest.

Chief police officers throughout England and Wales have been authorised to deploy the weapons for use by firearms officers since September 2004. The weapons have been fired by Hampshire Constabulary officers on at least 11 separate occasions since then.

A Home Office trial launched last year in ten force areas permitted non-firearms officers to be given the weapons for the first time.

The Home Office insisted Tasers are safer for the police and for the public, pointing out that they have helped resolve incidents where there was a real possibility of someone being seriously injured or killed. In many cases they have not needed to be fired. Drawing or aiming the Taser has been enough of a deterrent.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: “I am proud that we have one of the few police services around the world that do not regularly carry firearms and I want to keep it that way.

“Everyday the police put themselves in danger to protect us, the public. They deserve our support, so I want to give the police the tools they tell me they need to confront dangerous people.”

Amnesty International has warned the weapons are “potentially lethal” and called for the use of the guns to be restricted to a limited number of highly-trained specialist officers in life threatening or very dangerous situations. The group said 300 people have died after being shot with Tasers in the US and Canada, where their use is more widespread.