Rural beat bobbies could be given guns to take on terrorists
POLICE chiefs are considering arming bobbies patrolling rural areas with handguns for the first time.
Simon Chesterman, a deputy chief constable, yesterday suggested ordinary uniformed officers could be given guns to solve a shortfall in specialist firearms officers in some remote rural and coastal areas.
The proposal would overturn Britain’s long- standing tradition of routine unarmed policing.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said forces had been unable to meet a Government target to boost the number of armed police to protect the UK from terror.
Following attacks in Paris and Brussels, then home secretary Theresa May pledged £143million to train an extra 1,000 firearms officers.
But two years on, forces are 100 officers short of the target, despite increasing the number of counter-terror specialist firearms officers by 70 per cent and putting 25 per cent more armed response vehicles (ARVs) on the roads.
Mr Chesterman, who speaks for the NPCC on armed policing, said police chiefs were having to consider ‘innovative ways to bridge the gap’ – particularly in sparsely populated areas, where it would take too long for an ARV to arrive to tackle a terrorist on the rampage.
The new NPCC proposal could see dozens of beat officers in large rural forces trained to carry a handgun alongside their usual duties.
Mr Chesterman said: ‘ Years ago there were beat officers who would go to the armoury in the police station and put a handgun on and go out and resolve an armed incident. I’m not saying we are going back to those days but it is an option.
‘One of the options is you look at frontline response officers … you train them in use of a firearm to help bridge that gap between the initial response and when the ARV can get there.’ But he added: ‘I think it does not need to happen at the moment. We have to monitor the threat constantly … it’s an option that remains on the table.’
The NPCC is in discussions with a ‘handful’ of large rural forces, including Devon and Cornwall Police.
Armed police response times to major incidents have improved significantly as a result of an extra 874 firearms officers being trained over the past two years.
There are 6,465 police marksmen in England and Wales, down from 6,756 in March 2012.
In cities such as London, Manchester and Birmingham, response times are within ten minutes. But in some rural areas, an ARV could be many miles away in the event of a terrorist atrocity, meaning it would be up to local officers to confront attackers.
Two of Britain’s worst sustained shooting rampages were in rural areas. Derrick Bird killed 12 in Cumbria in 2010, and Michael Ryan killed 16 in Hungerford in 1987.
Mr Chesterman, the deputy chief constable of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, said many officers do not want to volunteer to carry a gun because they fear they may end up ‘gripping the rail at the Old Bailey’ if they shoot someone.
He added: ‘The public don’t mind when we shoot a terrorist, they do mind when we shoot criminals.’ If frontline officers were to be routinely armed, it would not require Government approval and could be signed off by local police and crime commissioners.
Currently only highly trained firearms officers carry guns in Britain, after a rigorous selection process. Beat officers would get only a few weeks’ training under the proposal.
Security expert Dai Davies, Scotland Yard’s former head of royal protection, said this was ‘hysterical’, adding: ‘You have to psychologically and physically rigorously train someone to hold a gun.’
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said the force is not planning to arm its bobbies on the beat.