A confidential Metropolitan Police report has suggested that frontline officers should be given guns.
According to the internal review, Scotland Yard should consider routinely arming its officers with semi-automatic pistols.
Currently, only officers in specialist firearms units deployed to serious incidents are permitted to carry guns. They are also used to provide protection at high-profile events or sites and kill dangerous animals.
However, firearms units have faced severe shortages of recruits amid concerns about potential prosecutions following the shooting of Chris Kaba in 2022.
The most recent internal report was commissioned after a knife attack in Leicester Square in 2022, when Mohammed Rahman, a 25-year-old man from Notting Hill, overcame batons, tasers and PAVA pepper spray to stab two police officers.
Scotland Yard chiefs turned down the recommendation to arm officers because it was contrary to the British tradition of policing by consent, reports The Telegraph.
In principle, it means officers from all police forces serve the public rather than coerce them.
A Met Police spokesman said they would follow national guidance from the College of Policing which "does not support the arming of all frontline officers", adding that it aimed to train and equip 10,000 officers with tasers by the summer of 2027, with batons and pepper spray issued to all officers.
The Metropolitan Police has seen a shortage in officers willingly coming forward for firearm training
|PA
However, former Met Police detective Peter Bleksley questioned safety training for serving frontline officers.
He told GB News: "I’ve become increasingly outraged by the number of police officers who tell me that their safety training is abysmal
"In 2025 this should be the ultimate priority. In the face of increasing threats to life and serious attacks, all frontline officers should be issued with a taser.
"They should also receive safety training that is fit for purpose, and allows an officer to get their revenge in first if need be. In such circumstances they should also be supported by senior officers, the Police Federation, the IOPC, the CPS, and the courts.
"If this doesn’t happen then the slide towards a fully armed police service is inevitable, as are more funerals for officers who have paid the ultimate price."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Police push back protesters taking part in the Tommy Robinson-led Unite the Kingdom march
|PA
It comes amid a concerning rise in injuries for frontline officers.
Over the weekend, 26 Met Police officers were injured at the "Unite the Kingdom" protest in central London, while a female constable was slashed in the head and hand while responding to the murder of Daniel Anjorin on April 30, 2024.
More than 25 people were arrested for assaults on police officers at the Palestine Action protest earlier this month.
Police campaigners said unarmed policing was not only "outdated" but dangerous, posing risks to frontline officers.
Daniel Anjorin was knifed to death whilst on his way to school | PAFormer police officer and the founder of the Public Safety Foundation Rory Geoghegan told The Telegraph: "Across Europe and much of the rest of the world, routine arming has not destroyed legitimacy, it has saved lives."
It is common for frontline officers in Germany, France and Spain to patrol with firearms, with between 40 and 90 per cent of officers can carry pistols.
This is much higher compared to fewer than five per cent of officers in the UK who are firearms-trained.
Mr Geoghegan added: “What corrodes trust is not seeing a constable carry a pistol, but seeing one cut down by a knife or gunfire because their leaders denied them the tools to protect themselves and the public."
Scotland Yard said it was following the College of Policing's advice
|PA
A Met Police spokesman said: "The safety of our officers is of paramount importance and we are constantly reviewing our practices to ensure they have the most appropriate training and support.
"The Met follows national guidance from the College of Policing which does not support the arming of all front-line officers.
"All officers are however equipped with batons, PAVA spray, with thousands also trained to use a taser.
"The Met’s specialist firearms officers consist of thousands of experienced officers.
"These officers play a vital role in keeping London safe and where there is a necessity, will be deployed to support their unarmed colleagues."
Chris Kaba was shot dead by a police officer | PAFollowing the shooting of Chris Kaba, Labour moved to make it harder for officers to face criminal prosecution over shootings.
Mr Kaba was shot by a Met Police officer after he tried to ram his way past police cars that had hemmed him in.
It later emerged Mr Kaba was a core member of Brixton Hill-based 67, one of London’s most dangerous street gangs and was accused of being involved in two shootings in the week before he died.
Former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans introduce a "presumption of anonymity" for firearms officers subject to criminal trial following a police shooting in the course of duty up to the point of conviction.