Firearms Training Handbook

Introduction:

Depending on the firearms training that you will be undergoing it will give you access to different levels of weaponry from the MET's arsenal, these weapons are an integral part of any officers utility for not only their own safety but the safety of the public and as such should be treated with respect and should require an intensive level of training to use, which is why we will be going over the correct usage of lethal and non-lethal levels of force throughout this handbook.

Rules:

Every lethal weapon is a deadly weapon that can inflict some serious damage, and as a result, should consist of such.

Using your firearm is a last resort, is it not a toy and should never be misused, any misuse can and will result in punishments being issued which could lead to you losing your firearm.

If possible, lesser uses of force should be used, such as if a suspect is unarmed, a taser should be used, with a single warning and 7 seconds beforehand.

You should always think before you shoot, you should think about things such as are they armed and are they currently posing a threat, if the answer is no, what less lethal ways could you apprehend the suspect.

If you are caught using any weapon before you are trained, you will be punished which could lead to you being removed from the PD.

Training:

the training will consist of multiple practical scenarios that consist of various levels of force and how to react to different levels of force, this will emphasize the fact that you are there to save lives, rather than take lives and that firearms are a tool which should only be used as a last resort rather than a toy due to the serious level of damage which it can inflict.

The scenarios will be constantly adapting in order to keep the trainees on their toes but they will go over a variety of different scenarios that will ensure trainees know how and when to use their firearms.

Following the scenarios you will be asked a few general questions to test your knowledge.

Levels of Force:

Verbal De-escalation:

This should without a doubt be the most commonly used level of force, this is something that is key for any officer to learn and use on a daily basis. Essentially this is the process of talking people down, so if someone is doing something such as threatening someone else, rather than just

waving your firearm about shouting at everyone and telling them to stop you should try and talk them down and calm the situation.

Non-Lethals:

The non-lethal approach is the next step, this may come in the form of a nightstick or a taser, these are again a less than lethal approach, this should be the next step & should be used if the suspect does something such as pull out a melee weapon with malicious intent, obviously, you should issue warnings before discharging your taser and you should think before using this level of force. This is due to things such as cricket bats, as having one out shouldn't always mean that they're going to attack you with it, as it has legitimate uses. Tasers should be used almost always for melee weapons with the only exceptions being if they are attempting to murder/commit GBH with the weapon.

With lethal melee weapons such as shanks or kitchen knives, the suspect should be taken down with a taser if possible, but if the suspect poses an imminent threat to yourself or others, lethal may be used, but only if this is the last resort.

This approach should also obviously be used when suspects are unarmed and do something such as run on foot, although you must give 1 warning and 7 seconds if they are being extremely non-compliant by failing to stop and running.

Lethals:

Lethals are and always will be the last resort, they are to be used only if all other levels of force will be unable to help. They should only be used in situations involving firearms or lethal melee weapons if they are being used with malicious intent, as seen above. Any scene with firearms is extremely dangerous, and especially as non-firearms-based divisions such as RT and RPU, other officers should always be called before attempting to deal with the threat due to the extreme risk involved. When proceeding, the officer should always initiate upon the suspect armed with the firearm and should only shoot as a last resort, if the suspect places their hands up with a firearm and complies this is not causing them to shoot.

You should always think before you go straight to lethal as if there is a suspect that has only flashed their weapon and isn't a serious threat to life, provided there is at least one officer that still has a lethal out, a non-lethal approach should be attempted to try and limit the loss of life. You should only shoot if they pose a threat to life and shot at you or other officers.

Things to know before attending:

Equipment

Please make sure that you are equipped with the firearm that you are being trained for as well as your standard police equipment, if you cant pull the firearm out then the trainer will provide you with one.

Communications

You will not be in a teamspeak channel for this training, this means you will treat the scenario like a real situation using the radios and in-game like you would normally. Before starting the training the trainer will get you into a radio channel for your communications.

Procedures

As the people who are running the training are police officers, you will not be able to place them in handcuffs. This means that you will have to clearly state that you are going to be handcuffing them, for example a simple "cuff cuff cuff" or "I'm going to be placing you in cuffs".

Miscellaneous

Blips

We ask that you turn your blips off when attending the training, this is so the examiner can mark you correctly, without the help of blips to assist you.

Officer weapons

As stated the people who are running the training are police officers, this means that they will be carrying weapons that police officers have. For this to not be confusing for you, if you cannot directly see the weapon in the officer's hand then you should ignore it for training purposes.