Tasers have been issued to police officers in Dudley, it was announced today.

Twenty-eight officers across the patch have been trained to use the devices.

They are already used by police in Wolverhampton and Walsall and will be introduced in Sandwell in the next few weeks.

Until now firearms officers and the Operations Support Unit (OSU) have been allowed to deploy the tasers in Dudley, but now some officers will have 24-hour access to the equipment if they need it.

Dudley police commander, Chief Superintendent Keith Baldwin, said: “I anticipate the use of the taser being minimal but it will be a valuable addition to our options.

“Just the production of a taser has been enough on the occasions the OSU have deployed it to stop a situation developing. My officers have undergone extensive training in how and when to use the taser and their supervisors have also been trained in which situations it should be issued under.”

Firearms officers used tasers 93 times in the West Midlands from their introduction in 2004 up to the launch of new guidelines at the end of 2009, after which tasers was issued to specially trained Pcs for use in strictly controlled situations.

The taser uses an electrical current to temporarily disrupt the control of a suspect’s muscles, allowing police to make an arrest.