Former Authorised Firearms Officer needs help.

Z

zatoichi

New Member
Ladies/Gents
I need to ask those reading if they can assist me as i have come a cropper with the paperclip counters at headquarters.
I am a serving police officer in an undisclosed force, i took a break for three years from firearms duties whilst my wife had a baby etc. During this break my wife and i went on holiday to her home country and i managed to link up with a police swat team in an undisclosed european union country. Some of the swat team members were family freinds of my wife and i managed to go to their headquaters and see them train. Afterwards they asked me if i wanted to come along and see them training in swat intervention methods and was allowed to take part in one exercise. I took loadsa of photos and left to return back to theuk. I was so impressed that i sent the photos to my old firearms team. Over the past three years i went back to the country and hooked up with the swat team again doing unarmed combat tactics and watching them train in swat exercises, i went along took photos again and even went paintballing with them and had a BBQ. I never shot a weapon though but handled a few and had many talks over tactics. The swat team even came to my daughters christening in the country, when i got back to the uk i always passed on the videos and photos they gave me or that i took. The problems started last year when i re-applied to become an AFO, i was passed the selection again and was given a 7 week course. Five days before the course i was taken off by headquarters as they said i failed the security vetting, the reason...my times in the european union country with the swat team. I was interviewed at headquarters for vetting. I gave an honest account and mentioned i was a member of the international police assoication, which fosters international visits such as mine. I mentioned all my training was fitness, martial arts and watching some tactical training but not doing any. However the DCC refused to allow me to continue stating i was now a risk as i had been contaminated by non home office methods/tactics. I am very aware that other police officers have done the same thing because i have the magazine articles. My question is simple does anyone else know of a police officer how has had similar problems or has been treated in this way after a assoicating with outside overseas police forces. I am not a nutcase or have any other problems at work by the way. The head of my previous unit said he would give me the job today, my ch-insp says i have his absolute backing, so i can not figure this one out. I have a meeting with the DCC soon with the union, after that i may have to consider an employment tribunal.
 
I think my card got marked at headquaters once and now they are making me pay. Once that happens in the police you are buggered. My current boss appears to be very supportive and doesn't know what to do about it but who can you trust in the police, it is very much closed ranks higher up. I am going to the Fed as I think it is wrong to be written off like this.
 
If your department/divisional commander states you are fit to be an authorised firearms officers, then that is what your ACC should rely on. Confirm in writing that you have his recommendation, get reports from your supervising officers stating your suitability for the role.

To say you have been contaminated in non home office tactics is a poor excuse, the army do not train to home ofice rule for firearms tactics so when an ex soldier leaves the army and joins the police and later goes on to apply for firearms duty, how does that effect him?

CO19 train with numerous firearms teams all over the world from the FBI to GIGN, they are not home office approved as they are units of another country.

You have plenty to go on there, what i will say though is that it was probably naive to send photos like you said to your old unit. Firearms departments do not like, i will use the word kindly "gun nuts". It was the same for SO19/CO19. We come to work do our duty, finish the duty and go home. That is where possibly a stigma has been attached to you from these pictures and its probably the stigma which is the reason they will not allow you to carry again.
 
Thanks C019, i am aware of your background and your views are always respected by myself.

I agree that in hindsight sending the photos to one of my old team instructors was naive. i expect that someone looked over his shoulder and thought i had joined the taliban or something. I guess i was showing off abit.

Never really had a hard on for guns although my background in the military was as a Royal Marine. I always try to keep myself fit and motivated and current on anything to do with my trade including a bit of free cross training with anyone i can thats useful. Meet up with many swat guys over the years including GSG9, GIGN, FBI , Polish SWAT etc mostly to exchange views, tactics and have a few beers. I do not want to sound sad but I do get bored just sitting around not training.

My previous firearms role in the police was with the intervention side of things and not the ARv, although we covered that as well when they were short. My force does not get the jobs that some bigger forces get, ie The Met. I recall we only had a few jobs when i was in and they did not involve anything of note.

My main reasons for the jolly's with the overseas lot on holiday was i was bored sh%%tless sitting with my misses family at home watching TV and wanted to get out and do something. The other reason was to keep fit, keep keen, keep updated on trends and absorb anything useful for my impending application back into the AFO role. Nearly all the time I was over there was just very hard fitness training with a little input on a few occasions of their intervention tactics. Although there tactics were a little different it was interesting to see how others do the job.

It did not occur to me that it would ever go against me and they would say what they did, ie " We are worried you may employ what you have learned whilst overseas when deployed operationally with our force, and your experinces are not with home office manual of guidance training".

Personally I think my force is a bit in the dark ages with its firarms unit and needs its AFO's to cross train more with other EU forces, military and who ever has something intresting. You can never stop learning and a different point of view is always refreshing.

Still I await my meeting with the DCC.
 
I wouldn`t hold your breath on the FED being able to help,my experience is that they are all mouth and no trousers. Why don`t you take out the grievence procedure on the DCC,if anything it would get right up his nose, it would be your only way forward.
THE JOBS F*^*ED!
 
Tempting in a moment of anger, to put a grievance on the DCC but not sure it would do anything but accelerate my decline into a more crap job than i am doing now.
I agree the Fed is a big nothing, the job would be better if it had some decent leadership, trouble is most of them started their careers in the 70s and still think it is like that on the streets. Total w****kers some of them!
 
Have you considered what effect your 'sharing' of information and images may have had... is it possible that you are now viewed as a 'risk'....

Maybe the questioned arose that you may have equally 'shared' information?

We live in a paranoid environment these days.
 
Dear Sh4dow,
We do live in a paranoid enviroment in the UK, i think it is a little strange really as in europe it is not the case. Most special police units cross train and exchange training ideas and op methods. I can not understand the some UK police as they seem to just accept there own training as the best and do not want to learn ferm others. I am currently in germany and training, I will be training in Poland with the military SF, police and emergency services in the summer. As far as I am concerned training never ends, you just do not go to work and not train or seek out as much as possible about your subject.
 
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