Specialist Firearms Officer

A Specialist Firearms Officer (SFO) is a police officer who has qualified as an Authorised Firearms Officer, thus being authorised to carry and when necessary use a firearm, and has since undergone further selected tactical training in order to provide a wider range of options to Firearms Incident Commanders (FICs). [cite web |url=http://www.merseyside.police.uk/html/aboutus/departments/firearms/sfo.htm|title=Merseyside Police Specialist Firearms Officers (SFOs) |accessdate=2008-02-19|quote=The Matrix Firearms Department has a group Specialist Firearms Officers, (SFOs) who work within Matrix Firearms. They are experienced AFOs who undergo further selected tactical training in order to provide a wider range of tactical options to Firearms Incident Commanders (FICs). The Unit is regularly utilised in pre planned intelligence led operations and demand for their services has dramatically increased since the introduction of Matrix.] . The role requires around two years of training [cite web |url=http://www.sussex.police.uk/features/specialistUnits/firearms.asp|title=Sussex Police Tactical Firearms Unit|accessdate=2008-02-19|quote=Having done their two years probation, any police officer can take an initial weapons and tactics course at Gatwick Airport and then progress onto ARV skills courses. The progression to SFO usually takes around two years. Training in firearms continues alongside normal police training and an AFO will undertake about 18 days firearms skills training a year.] while still serving as an Authorised Firearms Officer. Specialist Firearms Officers are heavily used by the Metropolitan Police Service, where they form part of the Specialist Firearms Command (CO19) [cite web |url=http://www.met.police.uk/co19/|title=Central Operations Specialist Firearms Command (CO19)|accessdate=2008-02-19|quote=CO19 is the branch name given to the Specialist Firearm Command branch of the Metropolitan Police Service that provides firearms-related support to our unarmed colleagues. ... ...For example the crews for Armed Response Vehicles, teams of Specialist Firearms Officers who deal with pre-planned firearms operations and the Rifle Section, which provides a counter-sniper capability.] ; other geographic forces (with a few exceptions such as the Greater Manchester Police) generally have far less firearms-related crime and therefore have much smaller firearms units, generally referred to as the Force Firearms Unit, within which SFOs usually have their own units or teams.

Commonly, the role of an SFO is to interviene in siege situations. Where the situation is serious enough to warrant an armed assault to be executed by the police, but not serious enough to include military intervention.

Firearms and the British police

With only a few exceptions, police forces in England, Scotland and Wales are not routinely armed, and instead rely on AFO-crewed Armed Response Vehicles to attend incidents where the involvement of firearms or other weapons is likely. Due to United Kingdom firearm laws, and a general anti-gun culture, criminal carriage of firearms is rare and the presence of an armed officer usually leads to the surrender of the criminal. There are only a handful of occasions in a year when a British firearms officer shoots someone, and these incidents usually make the headlines of the national newspapers. For instance, one particular force has only had to use a firearm once in its entire history. [cite web |url=http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/UNDERZONE/about-us/specialist-firearms.htm |title=Underzone - Police specialists - Firearms officers |accessdate=2008-02-20 ]

Training

An officer with the SFO designation is trained to a higher standard than an Authorised Firearms Officer, as they are required to learn a specialisation and undergo more extensive firearm usage training. In a hostage situation, should the decision be made not to call on UKSF resources [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2559186,00.html SAS Moves to London in Terrorism Fight - The Times (London)] - January 2007 ] , they are normally the personnel called in to execute a rescue. They are commonly trained in skills such as Methods of Entry (MOE) and abseiling, as well as weapons handling beyond that gained at the AFO level, to a higher standard with the existing weapons, and in additional weapons such as the Remington 870 Shotgun, a weapon commonly used for door breaching. Individual SFOs are often trained in a particular speciality, such as a medic or sniper role.

Use of firearms

Police in England and Wales have been making increasing use of less-lethal weaponry such as the Taser and the Baton Gun. These weapons may only be used "with the intention to stop an imminent threat to life or of serious injury". [ [http://www.acpo.police.uk/asp/policies/Data/firearms.pdf ACPO (2003), "Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms", 5.6.3 ] ]

Police Firearms Officers (both AFO and SFOs) are trained to aim for the centre of mass as this maximises the likelihood of the shot achieving total and immediate incapacitation [ [http://www.acpo.police.uk/asp/policies/Data/firearms.pdf ACPO (2003), "Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms", 5.6.1 ] ] . This is slightly different in an Operation Kratos situation, whereby officers must aim for the head due to the risk of explosives being located around the torso [IPCC (2006), ‘Stockwell One: Investigation into the Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes at Stockwell Underground Station on 22nd July 2005’, from www.ipcc.gov.uk ] . Whether one aims for the head or the torso, the likely result is death; this has led to the belief that officers 'shoot to kill', but the primary intention is to totally and immediately incapacitate their target.

Common SFO specialisations

* Tactical Medic
* Rifle Officer (Marksman)
* Method of Entry Specialist
* Advanced Driver
* Trained Negotiator
* Close Protection Officer (Bodyguard)
* Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Specialist
* Gold Silver Bronze command structure Coordinator
* Tactical Advisor

Weapons used

See also

*Police use of firearms in the United Kingdom

External links

* [http://www.met.police.uk/co19/ Metropolitan Police Service, CO19]
* [http://www.global-defence.com/2003/police_03.htm SFO, private site]
* [http://www.sussex.police.uk/features/specialistUnits/firearms.asp Sussex Constabulary Firearms Unit]
* [http://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/v3/about/departm/codiv/operdept/fu.htm Devon & Cornwall Constabulary Firearms Unit]
* [http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/UNDERZONE/about-us/specialist-firearms.htm Thames Valley SFOs]
* [http://www.tayside.police.uk/firearms.php Tayside Police Firearms Unit]
* [http://www.limacharlie.org/index.php?id=1372 "Limarcharlie" private website]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/nov/04/ukguns.ukcrime Guardian article]
* [http://www.modpoliceofficers.co.uk/default.asp Ministry of Defence official site]
* [http://www.psni.police.uk/ Police Service of Northern Ireland official site]
* [http://www.cnc.police.uk/ Civil Nuclear Constabulary official site]
* [http://www.lancashire.police.uk/index.php?id=1212 Lancashire Police official site]
* [http://www.kent.police.uk/About%20Kent%20Police/Policy/m/m12.html Kent Constabulary firearms unit]
* [http://www.surrey.police.uk/services_firearms.asp Surrey Police, Firearms unit]
* [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hundreds-more-armed-police-to-join-londons-terror-fight-501825.html Independent article]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2001/life_of_crime/police.stm BBC article on police arming debate]
* [http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/SecurityandIntelligence/MDPGA/MinistryOfDefencePolice.htm Ministry of Defence Police Guarding Service]
* [http://www.gwent.police.uk/careers/armedresponse.htm Gwent Constabulary, firearms unit]

References