“There are times when there is a serious risk to the life or physical integrity of people, especially during crimes such as gender violence, fights and robberies and it is incomprehensible that the Directorate General of Emergencies and Interior won’t allow the police to carry non-lethal weapons," they said. "Statistics show that more than half of these assaults could be resolved without serious injury or death."
Manacor local police also point out that there’s been an increase in violence during police interventions and that several officers have been forced to use their firearms recently. "On one occasion a person was injured and on another a dog was killed," they recalled. "Stopping the action of an aggressor or animal that endangers the life or physical integrity of other people could also be achieved with a non-lethal weapon."
Laser guns are already being used by the National Police, the Guardia Civil, Regional Officers and many local police patrols in Spain.
“The government denied the acquisition of taser guns and stated that police officers must use the means at their disposal during interventions, which is their firearms, pistols and shotguns,” they said. “We are obliged to endanger not only the life or physical integrity of the person or animal against which it is used, but also third parties and innocent people, such as the victims themselves or passers-by due to the bounces, failures in the target, etc., which can be caused by the projectiles fired by these firearms.”
Other Balearic police forces are backing the request by Manacor local police for taser guns to be authorised.
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Too true, Marvin. 'Dream me up, Spotty'.
Someone at the MDB is confused about the difference between a Taser and a Laser gun. I’m surprised there’s no mention of Phaser guns, as in “set phasers to stun”