Policing Board representative Mike Nesbitt rejects its Human Rights advice against PSNI officers carrying tasers

Earlier this week, Chief Constable Simon Byrne spoke out against attacks on officers. On Monday, he said 43 officers had been attacked in 30 separate incidents in the past seven days.

He said injuries included broken fingers and a dislocated knee, while several officers had also been spat on.

In response, Policing Federation Chairman Liam Kelly called for the deployment of tasers

“We say again that Tasers are effective, protective devices and should be issued as standard to our officers," he said.

“They are infinitely preferable to a firearm and anyone who thinks otherwise should look at this incident and ask the obvious question."

But this morning Mr Kelly said that the Policing Board had effectively blocked the routine carrying of tasers by front line police officers.

Mr Kelly said that Chief Constable Simon Byrne could overrule the Policing Board but does not wish to.

He told the BBC Nolan Show today that "obviously he [Byrne] wants to have the support of the board" because he is accountable to it and "it puts him in an invidious position if he is at loggerheads with them".

And Mr Kelly said his members think the Policing Board believes that the health, safety and human rights of officers “aren't as important as some of the people that are offenders".

UUP Policing Board Representative Mike Nesbitt MLA said he was distancing himself from a recommendation of the Board’s Human Rights Advisor that PSNI officers should allowed to carry tasers.

“As a society we ask police officers to take risks on a daily basis that many of us would never do,” he said.

“We owe it to those officers to ensure they are equipped with the means to protect themselves and the general public should they encounter situations where they face an individual who would seek to harm officers or the general public.

"The Ulster Unionist Party supports the right of PSNI officers to carry tasers as a less-lethal alternative to firearms.

“The Policing Board’s Human Rights Advisor has made a recommendation that officers should not be issued with Tasers and quite frankly I cannot get my head around that.

“If we are going to train all our officers in the use of lethal firearms, then it seems logical to me that we should also train them in the use of less-lethal alternatives such as tasers.

“This would not only help protect officers, but it would also help protect the public if less-lethal force was available.

“The Chief Constable has operational responsibility and he can authorise the training of officers and routine carrying of tasers regardless of the recommendation of the Policing Board’s Human Rights Advisor. In this instance I fully expect him to do so.”

The Policing Board has been meeting this morning.

Earlier this week it was revealed that a policeman who was stabbed in the neck in Belfast was millimetres from death

A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after two officers sustained knife wounds in the incident at an address in the south of the city on Wednesday.

ACC Bobby Singleton said it was an “unprovoked knife attack on both officers”.