Better training needed for firearms commanders to manage ‘high risk’ deployments, says HMICFRS

While police forces were found to be “effective” in deploying firearms, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said a review of the SFC course was “urgently” needed to ensure candidates have enough opportunities to learn and practise skills.

The inspectorate has also recommended that a new entry criteria for strategic and tactical firearms commanders be introduced similar to the process used to select public order commanders.

Overall, HMICFRS found there were good selection processes for firearms officers, and officers are well-trained and well-equipped.

However, it said improvements need to be made in the selection and training of strategic and tactical firearms commanders because they manage “a high degree of risk”.

In the year ending March 31, 2022, officers in England and Wales were involved in 18,259 armed operations. Weapons were “intentionally discharged” at four of these.

“The deployment of armed officers is a high-risk area of policing,” said the inspectorate.

“We found officers involved in armed policing are dedicated, professional and focused on keeping the public safe.

“At an operational level there are good selection processes and officers are well trained and well equipped.

“But improvements need to be made in the selection of strategic and tactical firearms commanders. SFCs would benefit from improved training.”

The inspectorate found many SFCs had “limited armed policing experience” and were selected “purely due to their rank”.

“The police have a more robust selection process for public order commanders. A similar process should be used for the selection of those undertaking firearms command roles,” it added.

In April 2016, a five-year armed officer uplift programme began that increased armed officer numbers from 5,639 to a high of 6,621 as of 31 March 31, 2019. However, as of March 31, 2022, this number had fallen to 6,192.

“Each force annually completes an armed policing strategic threat and risk assessment (APSTRA). This informs the number of armed officers and commanders each force should have,” said HMICFRS.

“All nine forces we inspected had fewer armed officers than the number set in their APSTRA. However, all nine forces had enough tactical and SFCs.”

It added: “Generally, we found forces had a good process for selecting authorised firearms officers. This includes applications, pre-course selection, vetting and checks of complaint and misconduct records.

“But we didn’t find regular complaint and misconduct checks throughout an armed officer’s career. This is an omission in a higher-risk area of policing.”

In total, HMICFRS has made 12 recommendations to help policing improve the deployment of firearms.

These include the sharing of armed policing exercises to allow opportunities for learning to be identified and shared, and improving record keeping in relation to armed operations and introducing regular auditing of these records.

“The observations and recommendations that we make in this report seek to improve a national system that has good governance and structures,” said HMICFRS.

“There are some encouraging aspects in this report. But such is the risk in armed policing that the recommendations we have identified need to be addressed with some urgency.”

Assistant HM Inspector of Constabulary Nicola Faulconbridge said: “The deployment of armed officers is a high-risk area of policing and our inspection found that officers involved in armed policing are generally well-trained, effective and focused on keeping the public safe.

“Although there are some encouraging findings in our report, we also found some areas that need improvement. These included strengthening the training of SFCs, who have overall command and responsibility for firearms operations.

“Our report makes 12 recommendations to help the police improve a national system which already has good governance and structures.”