More police in Suffolk trained to use Taser guns
More police in Suffolk have been trained to use 50,000 volt Taser stun guns.
The training has been given to 32 frontline police officers in Ipswich, who have been allowed to use them with authorisation, over the past month.
Permission to use the Tasers had been granted 10 times since then.
A police spokesman said one was fired on 19 July in Ipswich to disable a 30-year-old man armed with a hammer who police feared would harm others nearby.
He was later sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
Tasers were first introduced in the county in August 2005 and during 2009/10 have been used twice, according to Suffolk police.
Insp Les King from Suffolk Police's firearms training unit said: "Our officers have a range of options available to them when dealing with a violent offender or a person threatening harm.
"The Taser is simply another option for regular response officers and will only be deployed under strict supervision, with the priority being the safety of the public as well as that of the offender."
Tasers work by discharging a pair of barbed probes from an electrical device that connect with skin or clothing to create a circuit, disabling the person.