Anti-terror recruitment: Stop hounding and start protecting firearms’ officers

Forces will continue to struggle recruiting extra armed officers to combat terror attacks without a “complete overhaul” of the investigative process surrounding police shooting incidents, according to staff associations.

Signing up for firearms’ training is proving a hard sell as officers live “in fear” of an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Now the Police Firearms Officers Association (PFOA) and Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) are both calling on the Government to afford better protection all round to officers carrying firearms.

The pleas come as fears grow that Home Secretary Theresa May`s pledge to deploy more than 1,5000 extra armed police officers to keep Britain’s streets safe are being undermined because officers risk being “hounded” if they shoot a suspect.

In December, a Metropolitan Police Service firearms officer was arrested as part of an investigation into the fatal shooting of a man during an alleged attempt to spring two convicts from a prison van.

Mark Williams, PFOA chief executive officer, said everything was being done to assist the recruitment process, “but matters are not helped by the manner of recent IPCC investigations and the way firearms officers are being treated like suspects”.

He added: “Those investigating should start from a point that the officers have done right rather than wrong. It appears to be the other way round at the moment.

“Every year we deal with the effects of investigators not believing our officers.

“It is not right and we will never attract people to be firearms officers — if we do not change.

“There needs to be a complete overhaul of the investigative process following a police shooting.”

Prime Minister David Cameron announced during a visit to Washington DC that central funding will be provided for an additional 1,000 armed officers, of which 600 will be based within the capital and 400 around the rest of England and Wales. Forces outside of London are also planning to use their own funds to further increase their firearms units, which could see up to another 500 officers around the country.

Towns and villages across the country are to have increased coverage from firearms officers to better protect them from marauding terror attacks seen in Paris last November and by the Brussels’ suicide bombers last month.

The uplift will predominantly target major cities, which are seen as at the greatest risk, but units will be located in such a way to improve coverage of towns and more isolated communities.

Che Donald, lead on firearms for the PFEW, says officers have concerns about “how much legal protection they have when carrying or using firearms, as recent cases have highlighted”.

He added: “The Prime Minister’s announcement on firearm officer levels is good, but it needs more details.

“We would rather encourage a review into the levels of protection afforded to firearms officers, which in turn would encourage a greater number of officers to apply, knowing they have the support of the government and backing for the difficult jobs they have to do.”

He said that in addition to this, the Government needs to be investing in increasing police numbers, not just getting existing officers to change roles or take on extra duties.

“Following horrific recent international attacks, including those in France and Belgium, the British public will rightly expect the police to be able to react to a very different type of threat, and it is essential we should be able to do this,” he said.

“Our members and the public we serve trust that any officers who carry firearms will be properly trained and resourced, to the same exacting and high standards as those existing firearms’ officers are.

“But to just say we are going to increase firearms numbers doesn’t paint a true picture of policing levels in the country.”