TWO hundred more police officers in Hampshire will be trained so they can be equipped with a Taser on the county’s streets.

As reported this week, £100,000 has been put aside to pay for the training and equipment that will be given to officers in more rural communities to help them deal with violent situations.

Currently only 160 officers in the county are able to use the 50,000-volt weapons which are designed to incapacitate an offender in a “less lethal” way.

They are mainly staff in the specialist firearms department and a small number on the Isle of Wight where there would be a long delay in waiting for the deployment of an armed response team to live incidents.

Now the total figure will rise to 360 – 11 per cent of Hampshire’s officers – who will go through training in the coming year.

The Daily Echo reported in February how new chief constable Andy Marsh was planning to arm more officers with the tool, enabling them to better protect themselves and the public.

Police and crime commissioner Simon Hayes has since told how he would like all frontline officers to be equipped to use a Taser.

The move comes in light of increased violence against police officers and PCSOs and at least 70 incidents involving a firearm on the county’s streets last year.

In January Thames Valley Police more than doubled the number of officers trained to use the electric device, from 205 to 485 – a rise from 4.5 per cent of staff to 11 per cent.

In England and Wales, police forces average at 11.5 per cent of officers able to use the equipment.