Scotland Police Affirm ‘No Gun’ Policy
Despite a survey showing 53 percent of its members want to carry a handgun, the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) says it has no plans to arm officers.
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The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) says it has no plans to arm more officers despite a survey suggesting more than half would like to have a handgun, reports BBC. The SPF asked officers to rank what extra equipment they wanted to carry in a survey. Carrying a Taser and having a body-worn camera were the top choice for 84 percent of the respondents. About 53 percent indicated they wanted to have a handgun.
The SPF, which represents rank-and-file officers, said it had received 1,698 responses to the survey – equating to about 10 percent of police officers. The survey also found that almost a quarter (22 percent) said they have been assaulted while working in the past three months, and 40 percent had been attacked the previous year. SPF chairman David Hamilton told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland that officers perceived the biggest threats to be from “knives, bats, vehicles and firearms.” “These are all lethal weapons, and the appropriate final response is a firearm.” He added, though, that this doesn’t necessarily mean routinely arming officers as they can look at different options. Police in the United Kingdom are issued with firearms in limited cases, such as counterterrorism, but over 90 percent do not carry guns.
