POLICE Scotland has dismissed claims it is on the brink of arming all officers, saying plans to increase the number who carry Tasers, and relax strict guidelines on armed vehicles responding to routine calls, are about efficiency.
Speaking at a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority in Dundee, Deputy Chief Constable Johnny Gwynne told the board who oversee the force’s billion-pound budget: “We are not about the routine arming of police. We have no desire to see everybody carrying a self-loading pistol on their hip.”
His colleague, Assistant Chief Constable Nelson Telfer, said rising attacks on police officers meant the weapons were needed to improve officer and public safety. There were 764 assaults on officers in 2016 , and in 2017 so far there have already been 969 attacks.
As well as an extra 500 officers trained to use tasers, Police Scotland also want to change rules restricting which calls officers in armed response vehicles (ARVs) can attend.
Currently they can only attend incidents where there is a threat to life, or those they happen across during patrols.
But the force wants to be able to send those vehicles to any incident where there is need for speed.
DCC Gwynne said: “This is to make better use of our armed response capability. Already we deal with matters of threat to life, but this is about how we use these officers better in a public protection sense.
“There is an opportunity to make better use of these officers in terms of local need.”
This could mean officers carrying sidearms attending routine duties, a proposal which has previously provoked an angry response.
In the Scottish Parliament, LibDem MSP Liam McArthur said he was worried about the proposal. He asked Justice Secretary Michael Matheson for reassurance.
“For those of us that are worried that this policy is part of a slippery slope towards an enforcement model of policing,” he said. “What assurances can the Cabinet Secretary provide that consideration will be given to scaling back the deployment of armed police and Tasers in the event that the threat to officers and the public reduces, that this isn’t just a one-way shift towards universal arming?”
Matheson said the move would ensure ARVs could help local policing.
Matheson said: “This announcement does not involve an increase in firearms officers, it is the use of existing firearms officers who are presently only deployed to incidents which either involve a threat to life or to a firearms incident itself.
He added: “The provision of the Taser specially-trained officers is to help to support both public protection and also officer protection because of the number of increasing incidents that they are experiencing where violence or a bladed instrument is being used, which clearly has a risk to police officers.”
Police Scotland also intends to buy two advanced drones at a cost of £50,000 each, which will be stationed in Inverness and Aberdeen.
Although these would most often be used to help search for missing people, ACC Telfer admitted they could be used “in extremis” for surveillance.
Tuesday’s meeting of the SPA board was the first to be chaired by Susan Deacon, who was appointed two weeks ago.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel