We can’t find enough armed officers, warns Met chief

BRITAIN’S most senior policeman will today call for more trust in armed police as he admits that not enough officers are willing to carry guns.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe will use his final major speech as Scotland Yard Commissioner to call for greater public support for firearms officers.

His comments come after a survey of his force yesterday found that one in eight offic- ers would not be prepared to carry a gun under any circumstances, despite the threat of a Paris-style attack in Britain.

a further 8 per cent said they would rather quit than carry a firearm.

The Commissioner has pledged to flood London with 600 extra armed officers in the wake of the Paris shootings. But recruitment has been stymied by fears about the legal protection for armed officers who open fire.

One officer who shot a suspected armed robber dead in 2005 was only cleared of murder in 2015.

Speaking at the Royal united Services Institute today, Sir Bernard will say: ‘This a dangerous place to be – in two ways.

‘We simply don’t have enough people now wanting to do these jobs. The failure rate in training is high. Secondly, we can’t afford to have officers think twice because they fear the consequences of shooting someone. That’s how they get shot, or the public gets hurt or a criminal gets away with a gun.’

He will add: ‘When people look at what we do, there should be less suspicion and more trust.’ It comes after the survey of 11,000 Met officers revealed that only 6 per cent feel there are currently an ‘adequate’ amount of gun-carrying officers in the capital.