The head of Cumbria’s main police union says the county’s armed squads should not face cost-cutting, adding rural counties face a greater danger.

Martin Plummer says the Government had to appreciate the sparse, remote nature of some of the rural patches officers policed – and how that affected the work of the officers entrusted with guns.

He was speaking after a fellow police representative said officers in rural areas feared they would be “sitting ducks” in a terrorist gun attack.

Mr Plummer, chairman of Cumbria Police Federation, is representing officers at the national organisation’s annual conference in Bournemouth.

Speaking to the News & Star, he addressed the issue of firearms policing in in era when police are facing cost-cutting.

“What we want is to ensure we have a firearms response and a firearms capability that is suitable for the circumstances,” said Mr Plummer.

“We want to ensure that as a county we have that capability.


Martin Plummer “One of the things sometimes looked at is: Can we afford firearms officers? Can we afford the equipment, the constant training?

“We want to make sure that type of policing is not subject to further police reform so we can protect the community as they would expect.”

Mr Plummer said that if a force had more officers and smaller distances to travel, residents there would be better protected.

“Westminster has to be appreciative of the rural nature of Cumbria,” he added.

“We are one of the smallest forces in numbers. We have one of the biggest areas to cover.”

The number of firearms officers in England and Wales last year fell to its lowest level since 1987, national reports say.

Mr Plummer, who served as a firearms officer for a number of years, said officers should be treated differently than they are currently in the event of them having to use a firearm.

He added: “We want police officers to be in a position that if they have to make split-second decisions, that we have the reassurance those officers will be treated as witnesses as opposed to suspects.

“At the minute, if we pull the trigger protecting the public, we are scrutinised, we have our clothing seized, our weapons seized.

“We want that to change.”

John Apter, head of the Hampshire branch of the police federation, has warned that a national shortage of armed officers could leave police in isolated areas “unarmed and vulnerable”.

Speaking to the BBC, he said armed officers could be miles away if an attack was launched in a rural area.

“Being realistic, if a firearms unit was coming from the middle of the county you are still talking about 30 miles away – you are not talking about a few minutes,” he said.

“There would be an understandable delay.

“If a firearms unit is the other side of the county they could be 70 miles away so you are talking a significant distance.

“So the only officers that you have available are unarmed and vulnerable officers and they are the officers that are saying to me that in a terrorist situation they would be sitting ducks.”

Last month Prime Minister David Cameron announced cash would be ring-fenced to boost the number of firearms officers nationally following terror attacks in Brussels and Paris.