THE Government\u2019s failure to adequately protect firearms officers from post-incident investigations is affecting recruitment to the sector.<\/p>\n
A long-promised review into the sometimes lengthy inquiries and even IOPC investigations officers have to face after they have fired their weapons on duty is now 30 months overdue.<\/p>\n
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And that is starting to put officers off joining the ranks, says Zuleika Payne, Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a shortage of firearms officers across the piece,\u201d she said, \u201cand there\u2019s a correlation between the support they get and the risks the roles carry with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese officers are having to make potentially life-changing on-the-spot decisions about whether to fire their weapon and then they are getting judged by people who were not there and who can consider all the facts in the cold light of day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe job has enough responsibility and risk as it is \u2013 if officers feel they are not going to be supported post incident then you can see why they aren\u2019t applying for the roles and why there is a shortage nationally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zuleika is also hoping the review, once it finally gets put back on the agenda, will look at existing capability for firearms officers to deal with demand.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cI see that they want to increase the number of officers but I\u2019m not sure recruitment can get underway before the Government actually understands the pressures existing officers are under and what the current capability is given we are under constant threat of attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey need to make sure we are fit for purpose in this area and able to meet very legitimate public expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n