Armed cops in the spotlight at meeting
Protocol discussed and assurances given
Armed Response Vehicle officers were sent out to an incident on the M9 near Bannockburn in May as they were the closest unit available.
Stirling councillors were told of the deployment while being briefed on the remit and role of Police Scotland’s ARV Unit at a meeting last Thursday.
Members of the public safety committee met with Armed Policing Operations officers at the council HQ to discuss recently implemented changes to the ARV unit in Scotland.
The meeting gave councillors a chance to better understand the role of the unit and how its remit has changed in recent years as well as the chain of command and the process of authorisation for the use of firearms by the police.
Plans to equip an extra 500 specially trained officers with Tasers were announced by Police Scotland in December 2017 in direct response to an increase in assaults on officers.
This coincided with an increase in the number of incidents involving the carrying of bladed weapons, provoking additional plans to extend the role of ARV officers.
Following a nationwide consultation, the plans were ratified and implemented in May 2018.
The changes mean officers can now be deployed to incidents such as road traffic collisions to provide medical treatment, or assist in missing person searches by using thermal detection technology.
ARV officers had been involved with a number of calls across Scotland since the changes came into effect, including 149 missing people cases, 40 missing people tracings, 550 vulnerable people cases, 142 road traffic collisions and 177 cases where medical assistance was needed.
As recently as May, ARV officers in Stirling assisted with the search for a vehicle reportedly being driven erratically on the M9 at Bannockburn as they were the closest unit available.
Committee members heard from Inspector Alan Findlay from the Armed Policing Operations Unit East, while a report from Chief Inspector Gill Boulton described how the training of Stirling Taser officers is well underway with the first officers already deployed, although no Tasers had been discharged as yet within the Stirling Area Command.
CI Boulton, Local Area Commander for Stirling, said: “The availability of specially trained firearms officers bolsters our local resources in helping to keep the public in Stirling safe.
“However, it is important for our communities and elected members to know that the attendance of these officers at an incident, does not necessarily mean that the matter requires an armed response.
“We wanted to demonstrate the range of call-outs firearms officers attend to serve the community, while at the same time giving reassurance of the stringent command process in place, which must be adhered to, before an officer can unholster their weapon.
“Extensive and continued training is essential for our firearms officers and the new specially trained officers, who are permitted to carry Taser.
“Our armed response, or utilisation of Taser is never taken lightly and is only considered in the most serious of circumstances.”