Report questioning need for PSNI officers to be armed 'riddled with dangerous naivety': Jim Allister

The TUV leader was commenting in response to the NI Policing Board’s annual human rights report, including a special report examining the use of force by the PSNI.

The fact that the Glock handguns are rarely drawn or discharged means the PSNI should consider whether they should be carried by every officer as part of its long-term plans, according to the report.

In the report’s chapter on the use of firearms, it states: “In Northern Ireland, the chief constable has given standing authority for all officers, subject to successful training, to be issued with a personal issue handgun which may be carried when officers are both on and off duty. In the rest of the UK, only highly trained authorised firearms officers (AFO) carry firearms.”

Jim Allister, the Police Federation NI, some policing board members and a former senior police officer have all rejected the idea of disarming the PSNI.

Mr Allister said: “The Human Rights Review of the PSNI’s Use of Force’ is a document riddled with dangerous naivety, particularly in its opposition of officers being armed.

“The reality, rather than the aspirational wishful thinking of the report, is that day and daily there persists a pernicious terrorist threat from the IRA in its various guises. No one would be more delighted than the terrorist and violent criminal gangs to see police officers disarmed.”

Mr Allister said the report “wholly fails to deal with the deterrent effect of the police being armed,” and added: “When terrorists and others know the police are armed they must factor in the threat to themselves. If they know they are unarmed, then their liberty to operate and perform their murder missions is rendered much more risk free."

Police Federation chairman Liam Kelly said the report “is devoid of acknowledging the human rights of police officers,” and added: “Real world policing invariably is not conducted in a Utopia nor can interactions always be fully replicated in simulated training environments. Our officers do not fear accountability or oversight.

"What they do fear is the inability to protect themselves, their colleagues and victims of crime because they are not being provided with the requisite support and available equipment necessary to enable them to do their jobs.”

Former senior police officer Jim Gamble described any move to disarm the PSNI as “utter madness”.

He said: “Up to and until we are in a similar situation to the rest of the UK, i.e. when people aren’t going out with the intent to murder police officers, it would be utter madness to disarm them and take away the deterrent fact that that represents.

"But I think the low number of cases where they have actually been discharged, and indeed the low number of time when weapons have been drawn, indicates that the training is effective, and ultimately that they are being used in a proportionate manner, which is what the law requires.”

DUP MLA and policing board member Trevor Clarke said he raised concerns at the December meeting of the board about any proposal to remove firearms from officers.

On Wednesday, he said: "This must be something that is dictated only by the conditions facing officers and a realistic assessment of the threat they face. It shouldn’t be taken forward as some kind of PR exercise or wishful thinking about the environment we all hope can be achieved in the future.

"At the turn of the year dissident republicans restated their intentions to carry out acts of violence, and we witnessed direct attacks on officers just before Christmas".

In a statement, UUP policing board member Mike Nesbitt said: “The Policing Board is not recommending that a single officer should be disarmed today, tomorrow, next week or next year. Rather, I see this as a challenge to all of us regarding the sort of society we want.

"Would I like one where it was not necessary for all police officers to regularly carry firearms? Of course! Are we there yet? Absolutely not!

“I think it is healthy to remind ourselves why officers need to carry lethal weapons, to review how often those weapons are deployed and to aspire to better days ahead.”

The report said: “Firearms were drawn 364 times in 2012/13, compared to 440 times in 2021/22.

“Firearms have only been discharged five times over the past 10 years."

The report states that “the reduction in the security threat level in Northern Ireland, and the fact that 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.”

Commenting on the publication of the two reports, policing board chair Deirdre Toner said: “The findings and recommendations made in these latest detailed reports reinforce the importance of oversight, ensuring the police service continues to meets its human rights responsibilities and delivers a rights-based approach in all aspects of its service.

“The police have access to an extensive range of powers to support delivery of their duties.

“It is therefore essential for confidence in the service that the public can be assured police powers are being used both legitimately and proportionately.

“The findings and recommendations made within these reports also helps ensure that knowledge and understanding of the impact human rights has on policing increases within the service and the wider community.”