Number of firearms officers falls for fourth year

THE number of police firearms officers in England and Wales has fallen for the fourth year in a row, new figures have revealed.

There were 5,639 authorised firearms officers in forces across England and Wales as of 31 March, Home Office data shows. That is down by eight compared with the previous year when there were 5,647.

That represents a loss of around 1,000 firearms officers over the past five years – at a time when the threat from terrorism remains severe.

A drive to boost the service’s firearms capacity was launched in the wake of the attacks on Paris in November last year, with forces training hundreds of extra personnel as part of counter-terrorism efforts.

Prime Minister Theresa May has asked forces to increase their firearms capability by 50%.

However, Che Donald, lead on firearms for the Police Federation of England and Wales, questioned where the additional personnel will be drawn from.

He said: “The PFEW have repeatedly raised concerns around adequate numbers of firearms officers and we remain curious as to where this extra number will come from.

“While the argument for sufficient numbers to help manage any potential terror attack on UK soil speaks for itself, the support firearms officers give to our unarmed colleagues is just as important.”

The Home Office said the figures do not include the uplift in armed policing capability – to be delivered over the next two years.

A spokeswoman for the department said: “It is for operationally independent chief officers to determine the number of authorised firearms officers in their areas based on a thorough assessment of threat and risk.

“Following the Paris attacks last year, the Government announced that £144 million will be provided over the course of the Spending Review period to uplift armed policing capability and capacity in order to respond more quickly and effectively to a firearms attack.

“It will mean more than 1,000 additional armed police, round-the-clock specialist teams being set up outside London and 40 more Police Armed Response Vehicles on our streets.”

The National Police Chiefs’ Council said police are still on track to deliver an extra 1,500 firearms officers over the next 18 months.

The body’s lead for firearms, Deputy Chief Constable Simon Chesterman, said: “Our recruitment and training programme is now well under way. This is a rolling programme, with the majority of new firearms officers to be trained and deployable by April 2017.”