Taser

Necessary Officers are also being equipped with the latest Taser X2 devices, which can be fired twice before requiring a reload.

Unarmed officers face a wider range of dangers than ever before, so providing them with a Taser helps to mitigate those risks to a large degree.

Human rights group Amnesty International expressed concern over the upward trend and said it was worried Taser usage was becoming part of "day-to-day policing" in Scotland.

An officer also drew a taser on a 15-year-old boy who had allegedly smashed cars, doors and windows at a care home with a pole.

Family threatened with TASER by gang who burst in to their home

The rest of the time the weapon was used to threaten suspects, and in 111 cases officers aimed and partially activated the Taser so a red target dot appeared on the person.

USE of tasers against children potentially as young as 11 in Leicestershire soared last year.

Police in West Yorkshire red-dotted three 15-year-olds last year, one in Wakefield and two in Leeds, the youngest people to have a Taser used against them in the area.

A 2009 report by the American College of Emergency Physician states that a three-year review of all Taser uses against criminal suspects at six law enforcement agencies found only three significant injuries out of 1,201 criminal suspects subdued by Tasers, and reports that 99.75 percent of criminal suspects shocked by a Taser received no injuries or mild injuries only, such as scrapes and bruises.

Nearly a third of the US population can be considered a 'vulnerable' group and are at greater risk of death or injury from Taser shocks, the Reuters report found.

The best-known and most successful ECD to date is believed to be the Taser, which is manufactured and distributed by Axon, formerly known as Taser International, an Arizona-based company that develops products for the law enforcement agencies.