The Council of Ministers approved a resolution authorising the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration to assume multi-year commitments and incur expenses for the acquisition of an additional 1,500 electric immobilisation devices, known as ‘tasers’, for the National Republican Guard and Public Security Police, amounting to €4.3 million, plus VAT, for the year 2026.

A note from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MAI) states that the acquisition of the ‘tasers’ aims to “strengthen the preventive and operational capacity” of the PSP and GNR.

According to the MAI, the way in which these non-lethal electric weapons will be distributed “is a matter of strictly operational scope and, as such, it is up to the security forces to define this strategy, with no responsibility on the part of the Ministry of Internal Administration in this process”. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) also reports that the security forces received 393 'tasers' in 2017 and 2019 under the Law on the Programming of Infrastructure and Equipment for the Security Forces and Services (LPIEFSS), "with no acquisitions having been made since that date."

According to the ministry headed by Luís Neves, the use of electrical immobilization devices by security forces is essentially based on the concept of proportionality and the progressive use of force, providing PSP and GNR officers with "a technically effective alternative between verbal deterrence and the extreme use of lethal force, safeguarding, above all, the fundamental right to physical integrity and life."

"Electrical immobilisation devices allow for greater control and inhibition of aggressive behaviour, representing a lower risk of lethality," the MAI further indicates.