London Police Call For new £50 Million Base

[Zarvan]

Grey-clad Metropolitan Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officers pose with new kit

The armed wing of London’s Metropolitan Police have submitted plans for a new £50 million base in Limehouse in the east of the capital.

The Specialist Firearms Command (SCO19) already has a training establishment at Hendon in the north of London but deputy commissioner Craig Mackey argues that SCO19 need a base at Limehouse to enable armed response officers to tackle incidents across the city quickly.

The new facility would house a training range, weapons storage, offices and facilities for at least 200 officers.The move to expand the Metropolitan Police’s firearms wing comes in the wake of a series of terrorist attacks on the nation’s capital this year including the London Bridge, Westminster and Finsbury Park attacks.

Armed Metropolitan Officers on guard in Whitehall with HK MP7-SFs (Evening Standard)

SCO19 includes a number of wings with armed response vehicles (ARVs), tactical support teams, highly trained Specialist Firearms Officers and the elite Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officer teams (CT-SFO). The CT-SFO teams recently received upgraded gear including new vehicles, grey uniforms, new body armour and a raft of new weapons. CT-SFO teams are now equipped with SIG Sauer SIG516s and MCXs, Glock 17 and 19 pistols, Remington 870 shotguns and Accuracy International AT308 sniper rifles.

Other SC019 officers are armed with a mixture of semi-auto Heckler & Koch MP5s, MP7s and G36Ks. The standard sidearm issued is the Glock 17. In addition to London’s firearms officers Mackey was keen to note that the new base will also act as a more conventional police station with non-armed police also operating from the Limehouse base with vehicle and equipment storage and custody facilities. The plan for the new base now awaits approval by the mayor’s office for police and crime (Mopac).



http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/10/09/london-police-call-new-50-million-base/

 

[Zarvan]

UK MoD Armed Police Failed to Meet Training Standards

Armed MoD Officers armed with MP7s (MoD)

It has emerged that the UK’s Ministry of Defence Police have failed to meet firearms training standards. The specialist non-military police force is tasked with protecting sites of national importance such as the Royal Navy’s base at Faslane, Scotland – the home of Britain’s Trident nuclear arsenal.

The College of Policing has temporarily suspended its endorsement of the MoD Police’s firearms training of officers due to a perceived fall in training standard. The College conducts inspections of police force firearms training every four years and issues endorsement licenses to certify a force is training personnel properly.

The MoD Police are one of Britain’s most heavily armed police forces with approximately 90% of officers issued weapons. Officers are predominantly armed with the semi-automatic only HK MP7-SF, but MP5s, Diemaco C8s and L85A1 rifles and pistols are also issued.

Armed MoD Officers armed with Heckler & Koch MP7-SFs guard a Naval Base (MoD)


MoD)

The College of Policing announced that they have suspended their endorsement of the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) firearms training arrangements “until MDP is in a position to demonstrate that it is again delivering training to the very high standards set by the College.”

One of the issues identified was one of the MDP’s training ranges built on an old Army base in Staffordshire not meeting currenty regulations. £140,000 worth of improvements to the range have now been approved.

Richard Bennett, the Head of the Uniformed Policing Faculty at the College of Policing told the Herald of Scotland that the College was “working hard with the MDP to support them so that we can endorse their training arrangements again as soon as possible.” He explained that “the suspension does not mean that the MDP must stop training its staff or that its staff cannot carry and use firearms to protect important sites and the public.”

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that they are working with the College to improve their training regime and meet the standards needed for endorsement. The MDP says it has completed the necessary steps to address the issues identified and the temporary suspension of the training endorsement does not impact on the security of the establishments it is assigned to protect.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/10/09/uk-mod-armed-police-failed-meet-training-standards/