The British Police Are in Crisis

Опубликовано: 27 Февраль 2024
на канале: How Much?

2,337,124

129k

The Met Police have around 2,500 Authorized Firearms Officers. That being police officers who can carry firearms. They undertake specialist training to get to this position and deal with some of Britain’s worst and most dangerous criminals.

However, between April and December last year over 250 of them left the unit. So just recruit more right? Well historically the Met would receive 150-250 applications per recruitment drive. But in the Mets latest recruitment drive, only 6 people applied, the lowest to date.

This is obviously a massive issue but why is it happening? Well firstly you don’t get paid anymore to be a firearms officer. Instead you’re on a standard met police salary of around £54,000 within 7 years.

Secondly many think it’s not worth the risk to your life and career. AFOs are more likely to get in harms way due to the nature of the role but they’re also more likely to get sacked, penalized or even jailed.

The recent police protests over the Chris Kaba incident are examples of this.

The Met are currently taking applications from officers still on probation to fill the roles but if that doesn’t work it’s possible all police may have to undertake firearms training as a shortage in AFOs simply isn’t an option.

On the upside, if your dream is to be an AFO, there’s never been a better time to join the police.