Police throughout Germany should be equipped with Tasers, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has said.

Dobrindt told the Funke media group of newspapers he would ensure that the legal framework for equipping officers with the electric shock devices was established this year.

He described the use of the devices as “a suitable means” of responding to the increased threat to police in public.

Tasers would also better protect officers if they were attacked with stabbing weapons, such as knives, he said.

The devices operate at a distance of between 2 and 5 metres, temporarily incapacitating people with an electrical shock.

However, their use is controversial as they can pose a risk to the heart and potentially cause cardiac arrest or death.

Dobrindt’s comments follow a call made by the Lower Saxony branch of the German Police Union to equip officers with Tasers following a fatal police shooting of a 21-year-old black man.

The young man, only identified by his first name – Lorenz – under Germany’s strict privacy laws, was shot four times by a police officer in April in Oldenburg.

Investigators said that the German man had previously sprayed irritant gas outside a nightclub and injured several people before fleeing from the scene.

When patrol officers tried to confront him, he apparently approached them in a threatening manner and sprayed irritant gas in their direction.

The case sparked outrage across Germany, with protests against racism and police violence taking place throughout the country.

The German Police Union (GdP) has welcomed the interior minister’s proposal.

Andreas Rosskopf, head of the GdP’s federal police division, told the Rheinische Post newspaper: “Given the heightened threat level, particularly at train stations – as we recently saw in Hamburg – these devices are an important operational tool.”

Two weeks ago, a woman launched a random knife attack at Hamburg Central Station, injuring 18 people.

As recently as Saturday, another woman was shot by police in Munich and later died in hospital after she allegedly attacked and injured at least two people with a knife.

According to Rosskopf, the ongoing federal police trials of Tasers at selected railway stations have shown that the mere presence of the devices can often help de-escalate tense situations.