LONDON (Reuters) - Specialist police officers in London will soon be armed with plastic bullets in a bid to cut the number of people killed in police shootings, the capital's police have said.


The introduction of "baton guns" in the capital on September 1 was given the go-ahead by Home Secretary David Blunkett in June last year.


"The weapon can be deployed within a metre of a suspect in any direction," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Wednesday.


"It will be an additional tactical option for officers and not a replacement for firearms. It is primarily for use in situations of serious violence, such as those involving long bladed weapons," London's police service said.


Police say the single-shot baton guns can knock a person over at 100 ft (30 metres), but are a less lethal alternative to live ammunition.


A number of recent fatal shootings have attracted widespread media coverage and criticism from human rights groups and the victims' families.


The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) said in the 12 months to March 2002 it had investigated four fatal shootings, three non-fatal incidents and one use of a baton round.


Although plastic bullets or baton rounds have been used regularly in Northern Ireland, police have fired them only a handful of times on the mainland.


A baton round was recently fired at a man accused of threatening officers with a Samurai sword in Surrey in April.


Critics say plastic and rubber bullets have killed 17 people and injured thousands more in Northern Ireland. The United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets, a Belfast pressure group, has called for them to be banned.


Civil rights campaigners Liberty said the police should consider less harmful alternatives like pepper spray.

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