The National Police Chiefs’ Council’s armed policing lead, Simon Chesterman, has warned the days of officers volunteering for firearms duties may be over and chief constables may be forced to order, or mandate, personnel to carry guns.
But he said large numbers of officers had chosen in recent months to step down from armed duties—a process known as handing in their tickets—out of concern for how they might be treated should they kill or injure someone while on duty.
Will Officers Have to be Mandated to Carry Firearms?
He said, “The only way that we can mandate officers carrying firearms is by recruiting officers to be firearms officers, and my worry is that, after hundreds of years of tradition in this country of having an unarmed police service, we could be sleepwalking into having to mandate officers to carry firearms.”Mr. Chesterman described it as a “serious situation.”
NX121 is on conditional bail ahead of his trial, which has been provisionally set for September 2024, and Judge Lucraft ordered his anonymity be life on Jan. 30, 2024.
In September the former Home Secretary Suella Braverman announced a review of armed policing, which will look at whether, “the existing legislation underpinning use of force, including defences, provides sufficient protections for police officers in the line of duty, particularly in respect of firearms officers.
The Home Office is also investigating if the legal tests on the use of force in self-defence should be “clarified or changed” in misconduct proceedings and inquests.