A new survey has suggested more than half of police officers in Scotland would like to carry handguns on patrol over safety fears.
The study of nearly 1,700 officers reveals that 53% rank handguns in the top five personal protective equipment they would like to have on patrol.
Meanwhile, nearly 60% say they would like to be trained in the use of handguns and 84% say they would want to carry tasers.
But critics have accused the Scottish Police Federation – which was behind the survey – of supporting “militarisation” and claim ordinary officers would be “horrified” by such a move.
It comes as part of a wider survey published today in the latest edition of 1919, a justice and social affairs magazine.
The survey also suggests 22% of police officers have been assaulted in the last three months, and 40% in the last year.
David Hamilton, chair of the Scottish Police Federation, says it shows how vulnerable officers feel on the streets.
He said: “The public will be aghast that 22% of our police officers have been assaulted on duty in the last three months.
Frequency and gravity of attacks
“These are sons and daughters, mums and dads, each of whom has taken an oath to serve their communities and keep people safe, but communities have a duty to keep their officers safe too.
“Perhaps the biggest shock is that 53% of our officers would like access to a handgun and a further 7% would be prepared to be trained in it if necessary.
“This demonstrates not just the frequency of attacks but the gravity of them too.
“Officers consider knives to be the greatest risk to them and firearms are the appropriate last defence to being attacked by such lethal weapons.”
I suspect that most ordinary police officers would be horrified by this demand for guns
The survey result has been criticised by prominent solicitor Aamer Anwar, who has acted on behalf of the families of those killed in police custody.
Mr Anwar, who represents the family of Sheku Bayoh – the Kirkcaldy man who died in police custody in Kirkcaldy in 2015 – said: “It comes as no surprise that the Scottish Police Federation, through their own funded magazine 1919, have produced this research.
“I suspect that most ordinary police officers would be horrified by this demand for guns.”
Sheku Bayoh lawyer hits out at survey results
Speaking about Mr Bayoh’s death, in which armed officers were not involved, Mr Anwar added: “Multiple officers had no difficulty in bringing Sheku to to the ground in less than 42 seconds, spraying him, batoned, covered with lacerations, bruises – he died in police custody.
“I do suppose under this logic a gun would have allowed the officers to shoot first and ask questions later – not that there would be any chance of justice.”
The solicitor also claims that arming police is the incorrect response to attacks on officers, saying that life-threatening attacks on police are minimal.
Mr Anwar added: “It’s sickeningly clear that that SPF wants ‘militarisation’ but thankfully their leadership, who haven’t been beat cops for years, will never get to make that decision.”
Police Scotland has previously received criticism for armed officers being used to carry out routine police work like routine vehicle stops.
The role of weapon-carrying officers was extended in 2018, allowing them to respond to routine calls rather than only those where there was threat to life.
In 2019 it was reported that armed officers had been used to respond to 7,000 routine incidents, including thousands of missing person investigations.
No plans to move away from unarmed policing
ACC Mark Williams of Police Scotland said: “Policing with the consent of our communities lies at the heart of all we do and there are no plans to move away from being an unarmed service which has an armed capability.
“Being assaulted should never be part of the job and tackling the concerning trend of increasing assaults on officers and staff is a priority.
“The chief constable has underlined his commitment to achieving this goal by providing our people with the tools they need to do their jobs and he has also committed to continuing our focus on officer and staff safety.
“Recently, we have improved our infrastructure to support an enhanced roll-out of Taser and work is underway to uplift the number of taser-trained officers by 1,500 over the next three years.”