TASER-ARMED police in Devon and Cornwall are to double to 1,000 in the next two years, senior officers revealed this week.

But first they want feedback from the public before going ahead with the proposals which they suggest would benefit more rural areas such as Teignbridge.

A spokesman said: ‘It will better protect communities and deal with incidents in more isolated and rural areas where there is a threat of harm and risk to life of the public and back up to police officers may not be close by.’

It’s hoped the move will reduce the number of assaults on police officers which now stands at about 30 incidents a month.

Supt Ian Drummond-Smith, who is leading the project and is hoping the public will provide useful comments on the move, said: ‘As part of our assessment of threat and risk to our communities and police officers we are reviewing the number of officers trained to carry taser. We want to hear the public’s views on whether this should be extended.’

He added: ‘We are one of the largest and most rural forces in England - and our resources are at times thinly spread.  

‘Every day our officers are called to deal with incidents involving weapons which requires us to assess what threat this might pose to the community or those officers attending.

‘We want the public to know suitably trained and equipped officers can arrive promptly and deal with any incident as quickly, safely and efficiently as possible.

‘This review will help us to determine the best way to ensure we have sufficient resilience to keep both communities and police officers safe.’

Between January 2011 and October 2015, officers in the two counties force drew tasers during incidents on 1,250 occasions - but they only fired Taser on 306 occasions.

‘The chances of officers using a Taser are very small and we don’t believe this would increase with a roll out of more authorised officers.

‘What we do believe is that those wanting to cause harm through the use of weapons can be more effectively, quickly and safely dealt with if an officer has a Taser. That means an increase in the numbers will better protect communities – particularly those it takes a longer time for us to physically get to,’ said Supt Drummond-Smith.

He added: ‘No decisions around this have yet been made. We want the public to tell us what they think. We will then take into account these responses as part of an on-going review.’

The review is expected to make recommendations to the Chief Constable in the autumn.