Firearms team called out in Jersey almost every week

Tuesday 20 September 2016

In the second part of the Express interview with Sgt Dean Machin - Jersey’s chief firearms instructor - he gives his take on the ultimate response which the police have at their disposal.

Sgt Machin revealed the annual call-out figures, which shows that the firearms unit are sent to an incident almost once a week.

“We collate our figures and we dealt with approximately 89 incidents in which we were called out between August 1st last year and July 31st this year, but only 42 of them involved attending the scene with firearms. The rest of the time, even though weapons were involved, the assessment was that a conventional police response was enough. 

“Those call-outs were about providing a proportionate police response. It is never about, let’s get the firearms out, it is a policing response. We have to minimise risk - that’s our job.”

At the forefront of the firearms unit’s thinking is always safety first, both to fellow police officers and the public.    

“As an organisation we strive to minimise the risk to the general public, but maximise the safety of our officers attending incidents. That underpins everything the firearms department does. 

“There is a code of ethics in the police. The question is, would the person on the street expect this of their police force? Would they expect a response? Is it what the organisation would expect of me? Can I justify what I am about to do? As an enquiry, is this going to put me in a good light? In other words, am I going to look like a professional police officer?”

Sgt Machin said many of their call-outs will involve people who are more a threat to themselves, rather than police officers or the public. 

“A lot of people we deal with are not very well,” he said. “We are talking about quite a lot of self-harm. Our job is to open negotiations so that everything can be calmed down. Their medication could kick in, or it could wear off. Alcohol could wear off, or it could be heightened. 

“The immediate element is to gain control of the situation, so that the person, the public and the police are not in danger. If that person was looking to self-harm, they would be our priority, then the public, then the police officers because they are an immediate threat to themselves. If they are in a public area, then it is a balancing act, but at all times we have to create a controlled environment.”

There are several levels of authority before the firearms unit is called out, with lots of experienced officers in charge of the decision-making process.  

Sgt Machin said: “It is not a decision taken lightly to send out the firearms unit as there are plenty of levels before the firearms officers are sent out to deal with an incident. “The initial call goes to the control room, then to the tactical firearms advisor, who makes an assessment and on the basis of that, if he feel it fits the criteria, he then speaks to an attack advisor and between the two they will come up with a tactical plan, which has to be justifiable, as non-intrusive as possible, necessary and proportionate. 

“They will put that in place and they will then speak to a strategic firearms advisor who will ratify that response, before he makes his recommendation to an operational firearms commander, who will deploy the team. So there are loads of checks and balances. It is never a move taken lightly.”

Earlier this year the Metropolitan police admitted officers were no longer volunteering for firearms training and numbers of firearms-trained officers has declined rapidly in recent years. 

The consensus was that so-called ‘ambulance chasing’ lawyers were making the role very unpopular. Anecdotal evidence maybe, but the feeling amongst London coppers has become: discharge a gun and every cough and splutter will be investigated by a lawyer, invariably seeking damages.

The tragic fiasco surrounding Jean-Charles De Menezes’ death - the Brazilian national who was shot seven times at Stockwell tube station in 2005 after being mistaken for a terrorist bomber - has not helped. 

De Menezes’ family were compensated for their loss, but no officers faced disciplinary proceedings, a fact which was branded a clear cover-up by many in the capital’s community. 

But if officers aren’t applying for firearms training on the mainland, and in particular in London, they are in Jersey. 

Sgt Machin said: “In our last intake we had 15 officers apply for the role and 10 went on the course, so we haven’t seen in any fall. I haven’t seen or heard of anyone saying they were worried about joining. They are all volunteers and we don’t get paid any extra for being in the firearms unit. 

“I’ve got every faith in the training and resources we put into the unit, but these things are, by their very nature, sometimes a split second decision. 

“We are all citizens of Jersey and the UK and you have got to act with the appropriate level of restraint.”

In 2013, Fusilier Lee Rigby was off duty when he was attacked by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who ran him down with a car, then used knives and a cleaver to stab and hack him to death.

The men dragged Rigby's body into the road and remained at the scene until police arrived. They told passers-by that they had killed a soldier to avenge the killing of Muslims by the British armed forces. Armed police officers arrived and the assailants, armed with a cleaver and brandishing a gun, charged at the police, who fired shots that wounded them both. The police were, on this occasion, were very quickly justified in their actions. 

Sgt Machin said: “If you look at the case around Lee Rigby, that was open and closed by the IPCC within two days. They looked at the CCTV footage and said OK, which is why the onset of body-wear cameras for police officers is at the forefront.

“The body-worn one the police wear is not practical, so the firearms unit will be using a head-mounted camera - which makes sense. The quicker it comes in, the better."