People who brandish knives in public should expect to be shot, Scotland’s police union chief has said.
David Kennedy, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, has called for greater protection for officers facing a growing number of blade attacks.
Mr Kennedy told The Herald: “If you walk out into the street in Scotland with a knife you should expect to be shot by police.”
He added to The Telegraph: “There seems to be a culture of more knives.”
Mr Kennedy said: “I believe that anybody willing to be caught with a machete in public should be mindful of the fact that it will be a firearms team that deals with them.”
British police officers do not routinely carry weapons, with only specialist firearms teams allowed to have guns.
The SPF, representing 98 per cent of Scottish officers, is demanding change ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections in May.
The union is calling for New Zealand-style regulations that would place firearms in every patrol vehicle, enabling rapid access if lives are at risk.
David Kennedy, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, has called for greater protection for officers facing a growing number of blade attacks
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Mr Kennedy said: “The protocol should be that if you’re in public with a knife, it should be met with force.”
The call follows the arrest of two teenage boys with knives in Edinburgh – one of whom was carrying a machete on Rose Street in broad daylight.
Then, two boys aged 12 and 13 suffered serious injuries in a stabbing at a north London school last week.
Back up in Scotland, police officer David Whyte was hurt responding to a stabbing rampage at a Glasgow hotel in June 2020.
The attacker, Badreddin Abdalla Adam Bosh, 28, was an asylum seeker who went on a knife spree at the premises.
Officers initially tried to subdue him using non-lethal weapons before he was shot dead.
An inquiry into the incident is scheduled to begin next month.
Under existing protocols, Mr Kennedy said officers typically respond to knife incidents equipped only with batons or Tasers, when firearms teams should ideally be dispatched instead.
The Scottish federation’s stance goes beyond that of its counterpart south of the border.
The Police Federation of England and Wales has not suggested knife-wielders should expect to be shot, nor has it called for routine arming of all officers.
Neither the Police Federation of England and Wales – nor Police Scotland itself – have backed Mr Kennedy’s call
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But the organisation does support training more officers who volunteer to carry firearms.
A spokesman said: “PFEW believes that police officers should not be routinely armed on duty. Officers who choose to carry a firearm are volunteers.”
The spokesman added: “The Police Federation believes there are insufficient numbers of authorised firearms officers. There should be an urgent assessment of the police service’s firearms capability and more AFOs trained.”
Police Scotland have not yet endorsed Mr Kennedy’s proposal.
A force spokesman said: “All firearms officers undergo robust training which focuses on de-escalation and communication, which is always the primary objective when responding to incidents where there is a potential risk of serious harm.”
