The Keystone File
AFO SHOT DEAD WHILE TRAINING
It was bound to happen sooner or later. After years of near misses, some of which I've blogged about, an armed police officer has been shot dead while taking part in a training exercise . As it happens, the incident took place in a warehouse in Newton Heath, Manchester, not far from where I live. Media reports are sketchy at the moment, but it seems this guy was shot in the chest, whether by himself or one of the other officers is unknown to me at this time. The warehouse is apparently a regular venue for police training exercises. The exact nature of this exercise hasn't been disclosed yet. It could have been a session on a shooting range, but as far as I know the cops use facilities in Openshaw for that. If it was more of a tactical exercise, the presence of live ammo on the premises sounds strange - and you'd also expect the officers taking part to be wearing body armour. However it has been a hot day in Manchester, which might well explain - if not excuse - the lack of armour on this occasion (assuming he wasn't wearing his armour of course - bulletproof vests aren't totally bulletproof). Certainly someone has seriously messed up this time - whatever the full facts of the case are, it's almost undeniable that a gun was loaded with live ammo, pointed at a human being, and then fired - a negligent discharge, which the police seem prone too, this time with fatal consequences. The only other explanation I can think of would be a freak ricochet on a range, but this doesn't sound like a firing range situation to me. I'm going to keep an eye on the local papers and see what other information comes to light. Maybe now the incompetents who run the police force will get it into their heads that there are serious issues surrounding the training - and frankly the recruitment - of Authorised Firearms Officers.
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KEVLAR COWBOYS - THE MOST DANGEROUS POSSE IN BRITAIN?
Here's a story from This is London about all the police who've been injured due to negligent discharges of firearms over the last few years. Note that this is only injuries, it doesn't say how many near misses have taken place: Gun injuries soar as police 'experts' blast themselves and colleagues by mistake
Soaring: Gun injuries have gone up after police officers have shot themselves - and colleagues - by mistake.
The number of armed police officers accidentally shooting themselves – and other colleagues – has soared in the past five years.
Now, nearly half of all injuries caused by police shootings are the result of officers blasting themselves or a colleague, often during bungled training and demonstrations.
Since 2003, there have been seven incidents in which armed police injured themselves or a fellow officer due to the careless handling of a gun, compared to just four in the previous 12 years.
The disturbing statistics call into question the competence and training of the 6,700 officers authorised to carry firearms in the 43 police forces in England and Wales.
Recent incidents include a diplomatic protection officer shooting himself in the leg, and a sharpshooter who blew the top off his thumb. The details are revealed under the Freedom of Information Act.
But while injuries to firearms officers have increased, there has been no corresponding rise in incidents in which the members of the public are shot.
Figures obtained from 29 forces reveal that from January 2003 to September 2007 there were 21 members of the public killed or injured in operational incidents – while a further seven police and staff were wounded in shooting accidents, a quarter of the total.
But from January 2006 to September 13, 2007, when five members of the public were shot dead and two injured by armed police, five officers or police staff also suffered bullet wounds.
The forces where staff have suffered accidental injuries since 2003 are the Metropolitan Police, where there were four incidents, and one each in Sussex, Thames Valley and West Mercia.
Before an accidental injury in November 2003, the last accidental wounding of a colleague by a police marksman was in 1997.
Gill Marshall-Andrews, chair of the Gun Control Network, said: "The lesson is that people get injured when there are guns around – even when the gun user is as highly trained and specialist as a police firearms officer." (Rubbish. The Army don't seem to have these problems, or if they do they're good at covering them up. And being as there are nearly a million licensed firearms owners in this country, if there was an automatic link we'd be hearing about accidental shootings at gun clubs and on hunts all the time, whereas shooting is actually one of the safest groups of sports going. It's worth pointing out that the the so-called "Gun Control Network" is a shadowy little groupiscule of around half a dozen members which refuses to disclose it's source of funding, and Gill Marshall-Andrews is the wife of a Labour MP. I have no proof, but I've always suspected it of being a front organisation for either the Labour Party or the Home Office. CS)
Officers authorised to carry firearms must complete a two-week training course that includes the use of the standard police-issue Glock 17 self-loading pistol, basic firearms tactics and target identification.
But most of the time is spent on the ranges learning shooting skills and weapon handling. (This is probably part of the problem. A two-week training course strikes me as inadequate for people who are supposed to be the equivalent of American SWAT teams. It would probably be OK for beat coppers, if they received basic firearms training, which I think they probably should, but specialists should be getting a lot more practice than just a fortnight training then the occasional range session. CS)
The number of occasions in which firearms are deployed by police has increased dramatically – in 2002, guns were authorised on 13,991 operations, but last year that figure rose to 18,053.
How officers have been wounded
Recent accidents involving police firearms include:
• A civilian control room operator was shot in the abdomen during a firearms awareness course in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, last year. A Thames Valley Police firearms officer had been showing staff his Glock pistol, unaware it was loaded. (Idiot. The first thing you do when you pick up a gun is check to see if it's loaded. I knew that a long time before I took up shooting. Also, when you put a gun away, you unload it. There shouldn't have been a round in the chamber, and if one was left in it should have been found when the copper checked his gun, which apparently he didn't. You're also not supposed to point guns at people, and you're certainly not supposed to have your finger on the trigger unless you're ready to fire. Anyone who acted like that at our club would be chucked out. CS)
• A Sussex police officer accidentally shot a 48-year-old PC in the body at the range at Gatwick police station in August 2007. Body armour saved him from serious injury.
(See above. CS)
• A trainee firearms officer shot a Met instructor in the thigh as he was setting up a target in a mock-up of a night-time alley in 2003. (If someone's going downrange for any reason, everyone on the firing line's supposed to clear his gun and step away. Even if the trainee wasn't aware of this, how come the instructor didn't make sure it was safe? CS)
• A diplomatic protection officer in Central London shot himself in the leg getting into a car in September 2007. (This implies that he had his pistol in the holster with a chamber in the round. I don't claim to know very much about defensive pistol use, but I understand it's generally considered best to holster your pistol with the chamber empty and work the slide as you draw the weapon - see "Shooting to Live" by Captains Fairbarn and Sykes. CS)
• A firearms officer from West Mercia Police shot himself in the leg and foot in January 2006 after his gun became caught in his clothing. (Words fail me. CS)
• An airport security officer from the Met shot the top of his thumb off when he put it in front of his MP5 sub-machine gun during training in 2005. That just about takes the biscuit. Surely you don't need special training to know that it's a bad idea to put body parts in front of the muzzle? Although to be fair, I did see one geezer at my gun club absent-mindedly leaning resting his rifle on his foot one time, muzzle down - he looked quite embarrassed when I pointed it out to him. The general pattern doesn't look good though, does it? I don't think it's just a training issue, although that definitely needs improving. There seems to me to be a problem with the kind of people they're recruiting - lacking in common sense and usually with no experience in firearms - don't ask me why, but a lot of police forces have a deliberate policy of excluding experienced shooters from becoming authorised firearms officers (AFOs). Greater Manchester Police go even further, they attempted to shut down their staff gun club a few years ago by denying them access to the police range they'd previously been using - fortunately they were able to carry on by making an agreement to use the facilities of a civilian gun club, but that's a different story. So they're taking a bunch of people with no firearms experience, putting them through what sounds like a pretty basic two week course, topped up with a bit of occasional range time, and then they describe them as "firearms experts" or even "marksmen"! With a system like that, it's a wonder there isn't more trouble.
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A BULLY IN BLUE
I freely admit I don't like kids much (they're messy and they make a lot of noise - I prefer cats), but when I'm making next door's kids cry, I don't expect the taxpayer to subsidise my fun. Some people do, though. It used to be that if you wanted to bully little kids and get paid for it, your best course of action was to join the teaching profession. Since teachers aren't allowed to beat kids anymore, it seems the next best thing now is to join the police force, at least in Wiltshire: A policeman was criticised yesterday after he ordered an eight-year-old boy to smash up his toy gun – because it was an "imitation firearm". For good measure, after forcing the kid's dad to break the toy gun in half in front of his distressed son, this goon came back a few minutes later and picked on the kid's six year old stepsister for riding her toy car on the pavement. The police have admitted that the incident took place, but have refused to name the Plod concerned. I say, sack him.
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Butterfingers
Another reassuring story about our wonderful armed police has appeared in today's Manchester Evening News. A police inspector in the Tactical Firearms Unit had just finished an exercise session in the gym in Collyhurst Police Station on Monday and was back in the changing room. As per GMP policy, he had unloaded his gun when he entered the premises, and was in the process of reloading it when it "went off", hitting a mirror. The weapon type isn't specified, but it would most likely be a Glock or a H&K MP5 - both of those weapons are 9mm. Quoting from the story: "It is understood that other people were using the changing room at the time, but Greater Manchester Police claim that no-one else was near enough to be harmed." Going from memory, the lethal range of a 9mm is about 100 yards, I think. I've been past Collyhurst Police Station loads of times, I've never been in it, but I'm reasonably sure it wouldn't have room for a changing room that big!
Now there's nothing tricky about loading a modern semi-automatic firearm. You insert the magazine till it clicks. If you want a round in the chamber, you pull the slide (on a pistol) or bolt (on a carbine) all the way back and release it. If the gun has a seperate safety (which Glocks don't but H&Ks do) you make sure that it's on. Two other things to remember, you need to keep the gun pointed in a safe direction and your finger off the trigger at all times. It seems this copper forgot the bit about keeping his finger off the trigger. Even if he was tired from the exercise, he should have kept his finger off the trigger just out of habit. It probably indicates a lack of training - it's been well-known for years that authorised firearms officers (AFOs) don't get anything like enough time on the range to reach an acceptable level of competence. As the media usually does when reporting the activities of AFOs, the Evening News describes this dope as a "firearms expert"! And we're supposed to trust this lot to protect the rest of us?
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Aussie Coppers Make a Fashion Statement
I read this story in today's Metro, it struck me as so funny I just had to post it:
"What a difference a letter makes. New South Wales police ordered 50 lime green vests with ACLO emblazoned on them for their Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers. But a typing error turned them into ALCOs - slang for alcoholics. This was particularly unfortunate as alcohol abuse is rife in many Aboriginal communities. State police chief Ken Moroney apologised for any offence caused and recalled the vests."
Apparently, when they were delivered to the cop shop, the goods were just accepted, no-one thought to check one of them at random to make sure they were OK (although you'd think the company concerned would have been able to get four letters in the right order, even though they are colonials). According to some online sources, some of the vests had even been issued before the mistake was noticed. I think if I'd been one of those coppers, I'd have tried to hang onto mine, just for a laugh (and it'd be just the thing to wear at conventions). They may even be collectable in a few years ;-)
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You've Been Maimed!
This is the funniest thing I've seen for days. The video shows an American copper delivering a firearms safety lecture to a high school class. He produces what he calls a "Glock 40", presumably a .40 calibre Glock With the immortal words "I'm the only person in this room professional enough to carry one of these", he attempts to holster it. You can guess what happens next, can't you? If not, watch it.
To his credit, this cop must be a triple-hard *******, because he actually makes a decent attempt to carry on with the lecture, even though he now has a noticeable limp! Ten out of ten for guts, two out of ten for common sense. Presumably once he got back off sick leave, his employers would have sent him on a refresher course, although I don't suppose it's the kind of mistake he'd make twice!
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