Safer baton gun aims below the belt

The new plastic baton round deforms on impact with the target, dispersing some of its energy and making it much less likely to kill than normal plastic bullets.

The round is also far more accurate than previous versions, meaning police have a better chance of hitting the target area of the midriff rather than the more vulnerable head and chest.

Senior officers believe the new weapon will be used to incapacitate dangerous suspects in a wide range of situations where lethal force would once have been used.

They believe conventional firearms will only be used in future as the "final option" where there is an immediate threat to life.

The use of solid plastic baton rounds by police in Northern Ireland resulted in 17 deaths between 1970 and 1989.

But scientific advances mean the new rounds are significantly lighter and have been redesigned so that they crumple on impact, absorbing some of the energy. They hit with the same force at a range of two metres as the old ones did at 20 metres.

The gun from which they are fired now ‘spins’ the round down the barrel in the same manner as rifle, increasing accuracy.

Superintendent Brian Powrie, a member of the Firearms Training Advisory Groups (Scotland), said: "Our whole aim is to prevent the taking of anybody’s life if we can.

"Shooting somebody will only be used as the final option. We’ll do everything we can unless circumstances dictate there’s nothing we can do other than shoot somebody."

Powrie said that despite the baton round’s reputation based on its use in Northern Ireland, the new model would prove an effective alternative to using metal bullets.

"The baton gun is much more accurate [than it was] and results in temporary incapacitation of the person without long-term injuries," he said. "It’s like being hit by a baton in the stomach. You would double over, it would be jolly sore, but it won’t kill you."

Officers have been trained to aim at the belt buckle of the target to avoid hitting the head, which could still cause death. Powrie said a slightly off target strike to the groin might "spoil your weekend" but would not prove fatal.

The new L21 baton gun, which is made by the Ministry of Defence for the police, is accurate up to 50 metres but its operational use is likely to be at a range of 15 metres.

It has a slightly higher average muzzle velocity than the old gun with the round travelling at about 72 metres per second just after it leaves the barrel compared to between 55 and 70 metres per second. But the 9cm-long round is considerably lighter at about 98 grams compared to 135 grams.

Armed police in Scotland have opened fire on only a handful of occasions since the Second World War, but the number of times that armed response units have been called out to incidents has been steadily rising with 163 last year compared to 150 in 2001.

There has also rising concern about the "suicide by cop" phenomenon, in which depressed or deranged people try to provoke police into shooting them with several incidents in the US and England.

In August this year, Scotland saw its first suspected case, when 31-year-old Jenny Marr was seriously wounded by a police marksman in West Lothian after she dialled 999 and falsely claimed to have shot her mother.

Powrie said that firearms would always be deployed alongside a baton gun in case it was necessary to use lethal force.

"If someone is pointing a gun at me, I don’t first of all try CS spray, then a baton round and then a gun, I use a gun," he said.

Tayside Police issued baton guns to officers two weeks ago and other forces in Scotland are currently training staff in their use ahead of operational deployment.

In Scotland, it will only be used as an alternative to a firearm whereas in England and Wales it has been authorised for use to control public disorder. Plastic baton rounds were approved by former home secretary Jack Straw in June 2001.

Politicians and human rights groups gave a cautious welcome to the baton guns introduction, but expressed fears that they might become more commonly used than firearms.

SNP deputy shadow justice minister Michael Matheson said: "Like most people my initial instinct would be I’m not keen on officers being armed in any fashion whatever, with live rounds or baton guns, particularly given their history in Northern Ireland.

"However, if they reduce the need to use live arms in certain situations that may be beneficial. I can understand the rationale the police are putting forward. What I would be concerned about is if there’s any ‘slippage’, if they start to use them in incidents where in the past they wouldn’t have used live rounds."