There needs to be more legal protection for firearms officers, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said, as policing faces a potential recruitment and retention crisis.<\/p>\n
Metropolitan Police officers recently handed in their tickets in protest at charges being brought against an officer following the shooting of Chris Kaba. NPCC Armed Policing Lead Chief Constable Simon Chesteron said he has \u201cnever known\u201d anything like\u201d this situation.<\/p>\n
CC Chesterton said that if firearms officers are no longer confident in the protections afforded to them, forces might have to order officers to be armed rather than it being a choice.<\/p>\n
But South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said this would be a \u201cdifficult challenge\u201d. He said: \u201cI don\u2019t think, realistically, mandating officers to carry firearms will ever work. Officers have got to be fit to carry a firearm, psychologically as well as physically. You can\u2019t just roll everybody into giving them a gun because they may not be fit to carry it, they may not have the confidence to carry it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we need is the legal protection for officers doing their jobs. Officers, particularly I\u2019m sure down in London, probably don\u2019t feel secure in their roles. We do hear and see the concerns up here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will say that our senior officers in South Yorkshire Police are vocally and visibly supportive of our firearms officers, which is welcome. The senior command team has taken the time to go and speak to every firearms cop in the force.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there\u2019s no doubt about it, there\u2019s nervousness, because ultimately officers want to go home to their families every night and they don\u2019t want the real risk of a long time in prison for doing their very best.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there needs to be legislative change to protect officers who are doing their best, where it\u2019s clear they\u2019re doing their job to the best of their abilities in split-second decisions. Only when we do that are we going to start to see people attracted to the role again.\u201d<\/p>\n