Police in Derbyshire will be armed with more Tasers after a national growth in the number of people carrying weapons to keep officers safe.

Derbyshire Constabulary will be handing out another 250 Tasers to officers on the beat following similar moves by other forces in the UK. Earlier this week, it was announced that West Midlands Police will double the number of officers that are licenced to carry Tasers over the next 18 months.

Tasers are electroshock weapons that fire two small electrodes to shock an alleged criminal. As the current goes through the body, the person that has been stuck by the Taser can feel extreme pain and strong muscle contrations. This will usually incapacitate a suspect long enough for officers to detain them or control the situation.

Statistics from 2016 show that officers in Derbyshire pulled out Taser guns on 487 occasions between January 1 and December 31 2016, but were only fired 14 times, making up less than two per cent on all Taser deployments.

Assistant Chief Constable Bill McWilliam said: "We have rolled out 250 additional Tasers to officers in Derbyshire. This is not in response to any increase in threat to our officers but reflects national threat levels that all police forces face and we will continue to review this."

The new X2 Taser can incapacitate two suspects at once

Staffordshire Police currently have no plans to increase the number of Tasers in the force, but their importance will be reviewed by officers next month.

The plans coincide with a new model of Taser, the X2, being unveiled, which is capable of disabling two suspects at once and can deliver two 50,000 volt shots without having to be reloaded. The new model will replace the X26, which has a 60 per cent failure rate when being fired for the first time.

Interim Police Federation chairman Tom Cuddeford said: "Our members are really clear, they want Tasers. On their behalf, the Federation have lobbied long and hard on this matter both locally and nationally as part of our Protect the Protectors campaign.

"The use of force is always a last resort, however, Taser gives frontline officers more options to bring matters to a swift and safe conclusion."

Why do police officers use Tasers?

Andy Harding from the National Lead for Less Lethal Weapons has been involved in many campaigns to expand the user of Tasers in the UK. He says that Tasers are a less lethal weapon that the police in the UK can use when force needs to be used.

He also said that Tasers work on two levels; both physiologically and psycholigcally. Psychologically, the presence of a Taser can prevent situations from escalating and in the majority of situations, the incident is brought to a swift conclusion without the need for the Taser to be fired.

When a Taser is fired, two barbs are shot out of the gun which then attach themselves to the intended taget either on their skin or clothing. The electricity will then flow down the wires causing something known as neuromuscular incapacitation. This causes intense, overwhelming pain which will normally prevent the target from being able to move, meaning that officers will be able to control the situation.