N.Y. police consider giving all officers stun guns

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Police Department is considering giving stun guns to officers who walk the city's streets, a police spokesman said on Wednesday, prompting calls for restraint from a human rights group.

Spokesman Paul Browne said police supervisors started carrying a compact version of the stun gun, which incapacitates people with a 50,000-volt jolt of electricity, last week.

He said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly would likely make a decision about whether to issue all police with Taser stun guns within weeks. He said the devices already on the streets will be used "against persons who are actively, physically resisting," but where deadly force is not needed.

Stun guns have been used by New York City police since 1984, but were kept in vehicles as they were too bulky and heavy to be carried by officers, Browne said.

On Monday, the police department released a study it commissioned to evaluate the effectiveness of the city's firearms training program after a 2006 shooting. Sean Bell was killed by police in a barrage of 50 shots on the day he was to be married.

The study recommended the department issue nonlethal devices as an alternative to guns.

Amnesty International said that while it is hopeful that Tasers might reduce the number of police shootings, it has concerns about their safety and overuse.

"Our concern is a lot of people are dying after they're shocked and Tasers are being marketed as a nonlethal devise," Amnesty International's Curt Goering told Reuters.

Amnesty says 300 people have died after being shot by the stun guns. A New York man died this week after being shot with a Taser by a Long Island police officer.

Taser International, the manufacturer of the devices, was not immediately available for comment.

"The concern that they may be overused is a valid one for any police department to examine," Browne said.

(Reporting by Edith Honan; editing by Michelle Nichols and Mohammad Zargham)