Police survey sees a demand for guns
Faced with an increasing number of violent attacks on them, more than half of police officers want access to guns.
A study on safety equipment conducted by the Scottish Police Federation completed by around 10 per cent of Police Scotland’s force has revealed the majority (53 per cent) would like handguns and over four-out-of-five want taser equipment.
The results of the study come in the wake of a number of violent attacks on officers in recent times, many involving weapons.
In April this year 26-year-old David Dowson was jailed for seven-and-a-half years for a horrific attack in Wishaw which left officers Josh McCorry and Glenn Coletta with serious injuries.
The cops had been called to Greenfield Drive in the town last June to escort a child back to his home when Dowson subjected them to a brutal assault with a blade.
One officer sustained a head injury and lost the tip of his thumb. The other had severed tendons in his arm and a fractured right hand.
Dowson boasted in the street: “Aye, I chopped your cops with a cleaver.”
A total of 1698 Scottish cops took part in the study with its findings published in ‘1919’ – a magazine which covers Scotland’s justice and social affairs.
Almost 60 per cent said they would be prepared to be trained in the use of handguns.
It also revealed more than a fifth (22 per cent) had been assaulted in the last three months, two-fifths had been assaulted in the past year, and 33 reported being assaulted in the week before they answered the survey.
In East Kilbride last week, police officers used their vehicle to stop a man wielding a blade who faced up to officers.
And in Paisley last Sunday, cops were allegedly attacked by a man with a baseball bat, leaving one with a serious head injury.
Scottish Police Federation (SPF) chairman, David Hamilton, told 1919 magazine: “The public will be aghast that 22 per cent of our police officers have been assaulted on duty in the last three months.
“These are sons and daughters, mums and dads, each of whom has taken an oath to serve their communities and keep people safe.
“But communities have a duty to keep their officers safe too.”
A quarter of officers said they rarely reported assaults on them.
According to the SPF chairman the results of the survey are the “tip of the iceberg” but added few officers want to be “routinely armed”.
He admitted: “Perhaps the biggest shock is that 53 per cent of our officers would like access to a handgun and a further seven per cent would be prepared to be trained in it if necessary.
“This demonstrates not just the frequency of attacks but the gravity of them too.
“Officers consider knives to be the greatest risk to them and firearms are the appropriate last defence to being attacked by such lethal weapons.”
Of the type of weapons officers were concerned were the greatest threat to their safety, less than 15 per cent cited firearms.
Almost two thirds responded that knives were the perceived greatest threat, and just under 10 per cent said a vehicle.
The study also showed 16 per cent don’t want to have to wear a body camera.
And almost two out of every five didn’t want protective headwear.
The chair of the SPF has suggested that a model used by Norwegian police should be examined.
Officers there have firearms locked within patrol vehicles for use if strictly necessary.
Police Scotland insist there are no plans to move away from being an unarmed service.