Which police units are now regularly armed?

Question

Over recent years it appears that carrying of firearms by police officers in the United Kingdom has become more common. One now sees armed police on every trip to the airport. Which police units now regularly carry guns? I have only ever seen armed police in London, but are they armed elsewhere too? SO19 are the Specialist Firearms Command and are obviously armed. So, is SO16 the only other armed group? Are SO14 not armed?

Answer 1

All forces have Armed Response Units that are regularly armed with a variety of firearms, and these will be in a safe-type arrangement within their patrol car. In the case of the deployment of an ARV (Armed Response Vehicle), an Inspector at operations will co-ordinate the necessary actions to be taken. The law don't just start waving guns in a gung-ho fashion.

Much of the ARV policy stems from The Michael Ryan incident at Hungerford, and all of the police forces, and the Home Office, realising after that they didn't have a cohesive and nationally approved armed response tactic.

Certainly in Kent, there are always ARVs on patrol in designated areas, and they have high-speed capabilities to get to any incident in Kent in a matter of minutes.

I am near The Ashford International rail station and only a few miles from The Channel Tunnel, and sometimes armed police officers will be on duty, but not always. This will only happen at times of heightened security necessities. The last time being the London Bombings.

The Metropolitan Police will always have the necessity to have openly armed officers on patrol as they have the most obvious security risks within the capital and its surrounds.

Answer 2

Because of the number of high-jacks and the increase in terrorist attacks (Badder Meinhoff gang, the IRA,tamill tigers etc) it was decided to have armed police at airports as security.That was the mid to late 80s,also about the same time the number of armed response units increased.We now have officers trained in firearms at practically every constabulary although they are rarely used and a separate division dealing directly with terrorist threats in charge of units specifically trained in anti terrorism.Although they move freely about the country liaising with the rest of the police force they are mainly based in London and help enforce the anti terrorist measures operating there(double red lines absolutely no stopping and don,t drive a van in central London you will be stopped and searched if you are from out of the area) checking the hundreds of security cameras night and day.
So basically we have had a fourth armed force for twenty years now but they still can't stop a drunken immigrant with a knife getting in the grounds of number 10.

Answer 3

i think of in the united kingdom the Police do income from an universal stable dating with the same old public (whilst in comparison with maximum us of a's) if we arm all officers up we would get right into a difficulty have been Police use extra tension as a exchange of international kin as a effect the Police will lose allot of the same old public stable will additionally you will possibly get right into a difficulty the place it is going to become an hands race with criminals and given the reality there have purely been 3major capturing in the previous 2 an prolonged time (in all possibility using actuality the united kingdom has the strictest gun rules in the international) is it properly well worth the possibility, in my opinion i might have extra armed reaction & difficulty all officers with a taser as a exchange you have got it so they have handguns locked up in the patrol motor vehicle so whilst there's a decision over the radio of a capturing they are able to with out postpone arm themselves and respond. if a Police officer have been to hold each and every of the time it ought to bring about extra harm then stable (as an occasion if there's a scuffle on a saturday night, what if a under the effect of alcohol manages to get the handgun from the officers holster) i think of the Police had a vote couple of years in the past and it ended up being 70% against arming themselves, i recon the day will come whilst they are able to have too yet its not purely like the united states of a yet so we would as properly look at a threat possibilities first

Answer 4

As far as I know the only regularly armed police in UK are the armed response units and the embassy police.

Answer 5

the diplomatic force..airport forces.