Police Federation says a third of police back carrying guns

By Danny Shaw for BBC News

22 September 2017

More than a third of police officers in England and Wales believe they should be able to carry guns at all times, a survey of 32,000 officers has found. The Police Federation interviewed a quarter of the workforce, saying 34.1% supported routinely arming officers. In 2006, when the body last conducted firearms research, 23.4% of officers backed routine arming. The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) is currently reviewing whether UK police need more armed capacity. Of the 32,000 officers who responded to the survey, 8.9% said police should be routinely armed on- or off-duty, and a further 25.2% said police should be armed on-duty only. Currently, the majority of police in the UK are unarmed, with exceptions including officers in Northern Ireland and counter-terrorism police units.

Steve White, Police Federation chairman and a former firearms officer, told the BBC that he "sincerely hopes" police do not need to be routinely armed - but said it could happen in 15 to 20 years' time. He said that demands on police had seen "significant changes" over the past decade, including responding to recent terror attacks. "We'd been hearing from our members that there are increasing concerns about our firearms capabilities," he said. "No-one joins the police service to carry a firearm," Mr White added. "Things have to develop and we have to be able to respond before it becomes too late."

The officers were also asked when weapons should be available to officers, with 16.8% saying firearms should be made "available to all, as and when needed". But the proportion of police officers who thought weapons should only be available to "more officers as and when needed" fell slightly - from 47.3% in 2006 to 42.5% in 2017. More than half of officers completing the survey said they would be prepared to routinely carry a gun (55%), compared with 45% in 2006. The proportion of officers "not satisfied" that armed support would be readily available also went up, from 43% to 56%. Chief Constable Sara Thornton, the head of the NPCC, which is conducting its own review into arming police, said she did not think chief officers supported routine arming. But the NPCC's review, which began in July, is likely to recommend increasing the number of firearms officers, Ms Thornton said.

[Despite events of recent months (and years) it’s still comparatively rare to see an armed officer unless you’re in Central London or at an airport. I probably see one around once a month (maybe) when some motorway police pop into my local supermarket which is fairly near a junction. Although it’s not shocking anymore and doesn’t cause that much of a murmur – especially if you’re a regular there – it’s still notable. It’s funny though how quickly people get used to it. I remember when there was a serious security response in London when I worked there over 15 years ago. They’d brought in mobile road blocks after a series of incidents. So a few vans would show up, armed police – with machine pistols – would pile out and start pulling cars over covered by other police – also armed with machine pistols – in nearby doorways. The first few times it happened it literally stopped everything in the street. After a few weeks people had adapted and didn’t even change pace. It was rather surreal I remember and, at least to me, not in the least anxiety inducing. I can see in the coming decades a slow move towards more armed police. I’d expect to see 50% regularly armed by 2030 or 2035. I’m afraid that it’s the way of things….]