DUNDEE and Easterhouse in Glasgow are to pilot police trials of CS spray, it emerged yesterday.

A training programme for officers working in the Glasgow estate has started with a similar scheme due to begin in Tayside's central division.

The sprays will be issued to 150 officers, all those up to the rank of inspector, in the Easterhouse sub-division from October 1.

But civil liberty campaigners criticised use of the cannisters, warning that similar devices had caused deaths in France and the United States.

Divisional commander Chief Superintendent Louis Munn said public safety was ''uppermost in our minds''.

He said the effects of the spray, which is directed at the victim's eyes, lasted for around five minutes in the open air.

Officers issued with the sprays will receive extensive training on their use and effects.

Mr Munn said it would not be the first line of defence for officers, who would initially be expected to reason with members of the public.

He added that officers whose safety was threatened would be instructed to use the spray before their batons.

He said: ''The lasting effects from the spray are less than the baton, which could cause fractures at the very worst. It will enable police officers to respond more effectively if violence is directed towards them.''

He said the sprays had been welcomed by officers, adding that community representatives had been consulted about the move.

He denied that the estate had been chosen because of its reputation as a trouble-spot.

''The choice of Easterhouse has got nothing to do with any previous, ill-deserved reputation. Crime has fallen in the area and it is no different to anywhere else for assaults on police officers.

''It has been chosen because it is a city division which already has a safety training programme that is able to cope with additional training requirements.'' The effectiveness of the sprays will be evaluated at the end of the six-month trial period.

A spokeswoman for Tayside Police said: ''We are commencing trials for the rest of the forces in Scotland. The trials will only take place in certain areas within central division.''

Professor Alan Miller, director of the Scottish Council for Civil Liberties, condemned the use of CS sprays.

He said: ''They pose hazards to public safety and the police officers who use them. Monitoring in England showed they were improperly used even in pilot projects.''

He said they had caused deaths abroad among people with respiratory problems, with similar claims due to be tested in court south of the Border.

The sprays to be issued to police in this country are five times stronger than those in use in the US, he added.

Professor Miller said: ''We will be monitoring extremely closely the operation in Strathclyde and Tayside and we will demand that chief constables make these projects absolutely transparent to the public.''

The Home Office gave the go-ahead for CS sprays to be issued to all officers in England last year.

During the five-month trial in England, the spray was used 582 times and was drawn but not used on 350 occasions. It was found to be successful in reducing assaults on police. Already, 35 out of the 43 forces in England and Wales deploy the sprays.

However, three English officers have taken legal action over injuries they allege to have suffered during spray training and two forces withdrew from the trials over safety fears.

Individual Scottish police chiefs could theoretically issue sprays to officers at the moment as the Scottish Office regards it is an operational matter. The chief constables have decided instead to act together through Association of Chief Police Officers (Scotland).

More than 10,000 Scottish officers were assaulted last year, causing a loss of 2600 officer days, according to ACPOS.