PSNI: Policing Board report questions need for all officers to be armed

All 7,000 PSNI officers are armed with handguns which they can also carry off-duty

A Policing Board report has raised questions about the future need for all police officers in Northern Ireland to carry handguns, given a reducing security threat.

It also stated the issue should be considered because officers "very rarely" fire their weapons.

The suggestion has been rejected by the Police Federation.

It said officers are still being targeted by terrorists and they "must have the ability to defend themselves".

All 7,000 PSNI officers are armed with handguns which they can also carry off-duty.

The report looked at the use of force by the police.

It noted that while firearms are drawn on hundreds of occasions each year, shots have only been discharged five times since 2012.

Last year, the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland was lowered for the first time in 12 years.

It is currently rated as "substantial", meaning attacks are likely.

The board report stated: "The reduction in the security threat level and the fact officers very rarely have to fire their firearms raises a question about what the criteria should be for issuing firearms to all officers rather than, as in the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, only to those specially trained in their use.

"The PSNI should consider this issue as part of its longer-term plans."

The report also recommended that the use of Taser weapons should continue to be restricted to specially trained officers.

Tasers, or conductive energy devices, which fire an electric current designed to incapacitate individuals, are not currently issued to the vast majority of officers.

Terrorist threat

The Police Federation said the report shows "scant regard for officer health and safety".

It supports making Tasers more widely available to front-line officers.

Its chairman Liam Kelly said: "What the board appears to be advocating would potentially see more officers attacked and seriously hurt.

"We have a terrorist threat directed at our officers which is why they are entitled to weapons.

"Day and daily, both on and off duty, our officers are being targeted and they must have the ability to defend themselves."

DUP Policing Board member Trevor Clarke told BBC's The Nolan Show that officers "should be maintaining their guns to protect themselves".

"I think everyone would love to see a day when we wouldn't require officers to require guns, but those days are far away unfortunately.

"An officer needs that weapon to protect themselves against dissidents, [if] you compare us with England, Scotland and Wales, they don't have bomb attacks on police stations, on police cars, on police officers' houses."

However, Amnesty International's Northern Ireland programme director Patrick Corrigan said he welcomed the proposal "to end the routine arming of police officers in Northern Ireland and the reduction in the security threat level which makes it possible".

"Having specially trained authorised firearms officers who provide an armed response where it is reasonable, proportionate and lawful to do so, would bring the PSNI more into line with policing in the rest of the UK and Ireland," he added.