Durham police buy more Tasers

Last year, the City Council approved a request to buy 110 Tasers, a brand of electronic stun-gun. The council has decided to buy 125 more, plus accessories.

Tasers shoot out metal prongs that attach to clothing or skin and give electric jolts. The weapons are used as normally nonlethal alternatives to guns, but have caused some deaths. They use what their manufacturer terms "neuro-muscular incapacitation" that deprives the target of body control.

Some officers say the devices prevent injuries to them and suspects because just the threat of using a Taser is often enough to subdue someone.