Rural police in Britain are warning they’d be “sitting ducks” in a terror attack because there aren’t enough trained firearms officers in isolated areas.
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And John Apter, Hampshire Police Federation chairman, is now running a survey in the county on routine arming of police.
“Being realistic, if a firearms unit was coming from the middle of the county you are still talking about 30 miles away – you are not talking about a few minutes”, he said.
But the Police Federation of England and Wales, which has its annual conference in Bournemouth this week, said that the government’s plans “looked doubtful”.
“There would be an understandable delay”.
Steve White, chairman of the national federation, which represents rank-and file officers in England and Wales, told the Home Secretary that officers fear they will be treated like murder suspects by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) if they have to discharge their firearm.
In the wake of the terror attacks in Brussels and Paris, David Cameron announced that money would be ring-fenced to boost the number of firearms officers.
“If you hear a siren, take a second to stop and say “Lord, please protect that officer wherever they’re going”.
He added: “This isn’t necessarily about the individual police officers, this is about our ability as a service to provide the level of protection that members of the public quite rightly expect”.
“We will never be able to predict if or where the next terrorist attack will take place, and we can never have armed police on every street corner”.
Che Donald, from the Police Federation, told the BBC the recruitment drive will create a “gap” in the front line, as armed officers transfer from neighbourhood policing.
“I think many members of the public think we have a lot more firearms officers than we actually have”.
PLANS for extra firearms officers will not make up for a huge reduction in recent years, Hampshire’s police federation has warned.
More than 40 police armed response vehicles will also be deployed.
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“We will always ensure firearms officers are supported to take the hard decisions necessary to protect the public, and that is why, earlier this year, the Home Secretary commissioned a review of the legal and procedural framework governing police use of firearms and post-incident investigation, which is ongoing”.
