A SENIOR councillor has called for more police in Barrow to be equipped with tasers - but a meeting heard they could be given to officers policing rural areas.

Cllr Bill McEwan, the chairman of the Cumbria police and crime panel, tackled Peter McCall, the police and crime commissioner, about the issue.

At a meeting on Monday, Cllr McEwan, the Labour councillor for Ormsgill, told him: "I would like to see more officers being given them in Barrow. I don't know how the crime commissioner feels but with what's happening with crime, particularly knife crime, I think they are needed."

Mr McCall said anything that protected officers and prevented crime was welcome. "Only a fool would not be in favour of that," said Mr McCall.

But he added: "I would especially like single crewed officers to be carrying taser. I'm particularly concerned in a county like ours, where officers might be out single crew and some distance from support, having that additional piece of protection must be a good thing."

However, the allocation of tasers is ultimately down to chief constable Michelle Skeer who was assessing where they are needed in Cumbria, said Mr McCall.

Cllr Gemma Dinsdale, a Labour member Copeland Borough Council, said officers needed protection but warned against their widespread use.

She feared young people coming out of a pub having had a lot of alcohol could be tasered 'for doing nothing more than mouthing back'.

Cllrs Dinsdale said pubs served cheap drinks for a profit and the police had to pick up the pieces using pepper spray or tasers.

"That isn't going to create the control, that's going to create fear and almost hatred for young people to see their friends getting tasered on the street," warned Cllr Dinsdale.

Mr McCall said tasers were deployed 'very rarely' and the decision to 'deploy a red dot' or warn a suspect had to be sanctioned by a senior chief officer.

"When an officer tells someone they are being red dotted, that tends to have a calming effect," said Mr McCall.

Home Secretary Priti Panel announced recently that police forces nationwide would be given £10 million to arm 10,000 more officers with tasers - equivalent to 10 per cent of the total number of officers.