The Daily Telegraph

All frontline police officers could be given guns

- By Rozina Sabur

POLICE chiefs are considerin­g offering guns to all frontline officers under plans to be considered by their national co-ordination body.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has drawn up a working paper looking into the possibilit­y of increasing armed police numbers in the wake of the spree of terror attacks the country has faced.

The paper, drawn up by Simon Chesterman, the national lead on firearms police, will be discussed by police chiefs as safety measures are reviewed after the Manchester and London terror attacks.

The NPCC will consider how to deal with potential future attacks, including whether it would opt to increase their number of armed response vehicles or to arm frontline officers.

Current systems mean highly trained armed police are deployed when an attack occurs, but there are fears such officers would not reach the scene of an attack in time.

While it is unlikely that the suggestion will be implemente­d, given most officers are traditiona­lly unarmed in Great Britain, police sources have claimed they are coming under pressure to react to security threats.

One option in the working paper is for every officer to be offered a sidearm, as is the current system for police officers in Northern Ireland.

The paper also suggests that regular beat officers would get about two weeks of training in how to handle a handgun – less than fully qualified armed officers receive.

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