TASERS should be rolled out to every frontline police officer who wants to carry one, the Thames Valley Police Federation has said.

Chairman Graham Smith called for the stun gun to be available to all officers across the region to allow officers to better protect the public.

Mr Smith said the need for Tasers was because of the ‘reality’ that bobbies faced ‘more violence’ on the beat and said the force should ‘dig deep’ and issue the weapons.

His comments came as the Police Federation of England and Wales released results of a public poll which showed 71 per cent of the 2,004 members of the public backed officers carrying a Taser.

Mr Smith added he did not think Thames Valley police chiefs would issue Tasers in the ‘short-term’ because it was a ‘cost issue’, but add he thought it would be a gradual change over the next few years.

He said: “We live in a very different world to the one where I started out as a police officer 30 years ago.

“The reality is we face more violence. Police officers have to want to carry a Tasers.

“I just think it’s necessary to provide it for them to provide protection to the public.

“The public are not adverse to police officers carrying firearms, it’s more politicians.”

The handheld weapon, which is designed to temporarily incapacitate a suspect through the use of an electrical current, have been fired by police officers in Oxford more times than anywhere else in the Thames Valley over the past four years.

Between 2012 and March this year, officers in Oxford fired the stun gun 24 times, topping Slough with 18 and Milton Keynes with 17.

Oxford city was also the highest for Taser use – including when it is drawn or aimed but not fired – in the force area over that period, being used 146 times, above Slough (139) and Milton Keynes (134).

The Ipsos MORI survey showed 80 per cent of people said it would make no difference to their decision to approach an officer for assistance if they were carrying a Taser.

Mr Smith said there needed to be a ‘grown up conversation’ with politicians and the public about whether the police should carry firearms.

He added in the possibility of a terrorist attack in this country, it was likely the first police officer on the scene would be an unarmed reactive officer, who wouldn’t be able to ‘deter or engage’ with the criminals.

Thames Valley Police did not say whether they planned to give all offices Tasers, but currently their core response patrol officers carried the stun gun.

Spokesman Hannah Jones said officers only used Tasers when faced with a significant level of violence and needed to be qualified to use them.