COUNTRY police are being equipped with Tasers ahead of Melbourne police officers.
The Taser roll-out started in 2010 but only Morwell and Bendigo had the equipment.
Geelong and Ballarat started getting it last week, The Herald Sun reports.
Top brass cannot say when city cops will get the high-powered dual-shock Taser but did say more country towns would get them as a priority.
This is despite areas including the CBD, Carlton, Richmond and Fitzroy recording the highest number of use-of-force situations.
Superintendent Mick Williams said Victoria Police was committed to a statewide roll-out of Tasers, but he could not say when inner-city police would be equipped with the device.
Supt Williams said CBD police had the support of the Special Operations Group and Critical Incident Response Team, which were equipped with Tasers.
Victoria Police has sidelined the X26 Taser that was trialled in Bendigo and Morwell, and is now experimenting with the more powerful X2 Taser.
The X2 has colour footage of vision and audio from the gun, two cartridges, an automatic five-second shut-off mechanism and dual lasers to help with aim, and gives details of its effectiveness by releasing data that shows where it hit.
Supt Williams also said Tasers would not be used to subdue violent fans at sporting matches or deal with drug- and alcohol-affected hoodlums at the weekends.
"Our policy does not cover any public order type of response for Tasers," he said.
"Our criteria for use is the highest in Australia and quite possibly the world. It's tight policy and strong training."
Supt Williams said there were no plans to equip PSOs with Tasers.
Read more at The Herald Sun
