THE lack of neighbourhood officers has meant that armed police are being called out to deal with pub fights and domestic assaults, the Police Federation has revealed.<\/p>\n
Officers carrying a Glock 9mm pistol and Taser are being drafted in to catch shoplifters because they are the only unit available.<\/p>\n
The fact they are being tied up on such routine calls could hamper their ability to respond to a Paris-style gun attack, it has been warned.<\/p>\n
Che Donald (pictured), of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: \u201cWe have cut so many officers that it\u2019s impacted on the front line and we\u2019re now having to rely on our armed colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have heard of firearms officers dealing with domestic assaults, a pub fight and violent shoplifters because they were the only crew available.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile this can be viewed as an intelligent allocation of resources, it also means that the capability of deploying an armed unit is reduced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the event we had an active terrorist gunman, the officer would of course be redeployed immediately. But let\u2019s say that officer attended an incident where he\u2019d had to arrest someone. He wouldn\u2019t just be able to release that prisoner and go and attend the terrorist incident because he\u2019s got someone in custody and he has to follow due process,\u201d Mr Donald told the Express<\/em> newspaper.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThat would be to either meet up with a local unit and hand that prisoner over to them or transport them all the way to custody.\u201d<\/p>\n