British ministers have approved a new less lethal plastic bullet for use by police and the British army in Northern Ireland, it was announced yesterday.
The so-called Attenuating Energy Projectile or AEP will be available to firearms officers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from June 21st. It will also be used by the army in the North.
UK police minister Caroline Flint said independent medical tests had shown the new plastic bullet was safer than its predecessor, the L21A1.
Each AEP round has a hollow "nose" which collapses on impact to reduce the risk of serious injury, according to the test report published by the Home Office yesterday.
The new bullet would be used only against "individual aggressors" and not as a crowd-control measure, said Ms Flint.
"Although there will be a reduced risk of serious injury or death when the AEP is used, that risk has not been completely eliminated," she said.
"Where a round inadvertently strikes the head, the risk of serious and life-threatening injury from the AEP will be less than that from the L21A1 baton round, which already has a low risk of such injury."
She said the L21A1 would be withdrawn once all personnel had been trained in the use of the AEP."
Seventeen people have been killed by baton rounds in Northern Ireland.