OPERATION BRIDGE - Cumbria Constabulary

SECTION 4
4. Introduction
GPMS RESTRICTED
INTRODUCTION
4.1 This Peer Review was commissioned by the Chief Constable of
Cumbria Constabulary, Mr Craig MACKEY, in order to learn lessons
and assess whether the armed response to the events of 2nd June
2010 was reasonable.
4.2 Policing throughout England and Wales is delivered by 43 Home
Office police forces. Each force is led by a Chief Constable who is
responsible for the direction and control of all policing activity within
the geographic area covered by their force. In addition, several non-
Home Office police forces exist to provide specialist law enforcement
to our ports, transport infrastructure, Ministry of Defence
establishments and nuclear installations.
4.3 Police forces have to be ready to deliver a complex variety of
services from providing visible reassurance to counter terrorism.
Also, despite the contrast between policing a densely populated inner
city area and a sparsely populated rural area, each force has a duty
to deliver a service which meets the needs and expectations of their
local communities.
4.4 The British Police Service is proud of its tradition of policing with the
consent of the communities it serves and the fact that this remains
one of very few, unarmed police services, across the world.
4.5 Only the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and Ministry of Defence Police
routinely arm the majority of its uniformed operational police officers.
4.6 Chief Constables have to decide upon the level of armed policing
which is proportionate to an assessment of the risks within their area.
This assessment is informed by an annual Strategic Threat and Risk
Assessment 1 . Each force produces its own assessment, within a
national template, taking into account, local, regional and national
threats.
4.7 Deciding how many officers to train in the use of firearms is not an
exact science. Cumbria Constabulary is a good example, where the
day to day threat from armed criminality is assessed to be low;
however, the tragic events of the 2nd June 2010 highlight the fact that
1 The Strategic Threat and Risk Assessment is produced at Appendix 1.
THIS REPORT IS EMBARGOED
UNTIL 4PM MONDAY 28 TH MARCH 2011
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