Authorised Firearms Officer

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Authorised Firearms Officers wearing body armour, both armed with Heckler & Koch MP5 submachineguns and Glock 17 Pistols.

An Authorised Firearms Officer (AFO) is a British police officer who has received the training and authorisation to carry and use firearms. The designation is significant because in England, Wales and Scotland police officers usually do not carry firearms. Police officers of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, however, do routinely carry firearms due to the nature of the threat that they have historically faced. For more information on the issue of police use of firearms in the UK, see article: Police use of firearms in the United Kingdom

All police services in the United Kingdom have a AFO selection process, varying slightly between each force. As with many police specialties, all Authorised Firearms Officers have volunteered for the role. Candidates then have to have approval from their line managers before embarking on a series of interviews, psychological, fitness, medical and assessment days before permission to commence firearms training is approved. This is no guarantee of success - candidates can be returned to their previous role at any point in training.

The training is generally 4-7 weeks in duration, but will vary according to the post to be held by the AFO once they are authorised. Training includes basic weapons handling skills, marksmanship, first aid, firearms tactics, and conflict management as well as the policies and relevant laws which they must consider in mind when handling firearms. If successful, officers then carry a card signed by the designated chief firearms officer in their force, and may draw weapons and deploy to incidents when authorised.

Once authorised, officers must go through regular and rigorous refresher courses and retests in all of the aspects of their training in order to keep their firearms 'ticket'. Failing in any aspect can result in the officer having their ticket revoked, and any health issues which arise can also result in suspension from firearms duties, temporarily or otherwise.

AFOs are utilised in certain units such as the Flying Squad (which deals with armed robbery), Diplomatic Protection, and Special Branch (counter-terrorism); their other use is in crewing Armed Response Vehicles.

Officers of the Ministry of Defence Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary are frequently armed due to the high-risk nature of the establishments they protect. They are the only British police service to be armed with the Heckler & Koch MP7 personal defense weapon instead of the MP5 and G36 used by territorial police services.

As with all use of force in England and Wales, the onus is on the individual officer to justify any use of force, which includes not only discharging his weapon (intentionally or otherwise), but also pointing his weapon at any person (all of which constitute an assault unless there are 'reasonable grounds'). The individual officer is held personally accountable for all of his actions. This however has changed slightly since the implementation of Operation Kratos, whereby a Designated Senior Officer can give an order to shoot in a situation whereby the firearms officer may not be fully aware of the entire situation, in which circumstance the DSO can be held accountable. (IPCC, 2006)

AFO is the first level of firearms authorisation, the next being Specialist Firearms Officer (SFO), who are trained in skills such as hostage rescue and deal with major incidents or pre-planned operations.

Qualification as an AFO allows the officer to use not only conventional firearms, but also the Baton Gun and TASER. With the exception of a small number of 'Specially Trained Units' (STUs), only AFOs or SFOs can use these less-lethal weapons.

AFO Firearms differ slightly from force to force, but the most common are:

German Heckler & Koch MP5 (submachine gun)
German Heckler & Koch G3 (assault rifle, used as sniper)
German Heckler & Koch G36 (semi-automatic carbine)
German Heckler & Koch HK53 (semi-automatic carbine)
Austrian Glock 17 (pistol)
Swiss/German Sig Sauer P226 (pistol)
German Heckler & Koch Baton Gun - less lethal option (fires a large rubber projectile)
American Taser International X26 (stun gun)
Heckler & Koch MP7 (Personal Defence Weapon / machine pistol) In use with the Ministry of Defence Police.

[edit] Metropolitan Police

Within the London Metropolitan Police there are a number of Operational Command Units (OCUs) that employ AFOs.

The Territorial Support Group has a small pool of AFOs for certain security tasks.
The Specialist Crime Directorate arms some surveillance officers.
Some detectives in the Flying Squad are AFOs.
Special Branch deploys armed officers in its surveillance units, and in A Squad, which protects the Prime Minister and other dignitaries.
Royalty Protection Department, which protects members of the Royal Family and guards royal buildings.
Special Escort Group, which escorts and protects high-risk convoys.
Diplomatic Protection Group, which guards embassies and government buildings. It also provides the armed guards at Parliament to supplement the Palace of Westminster Division, which is unarmed.
Aviation Security, which protects Heathrow and London City airports.
Specialist Firearms Command (CO19), which provides armed support to the rest of the service, crewing Armed Response Vehicles and providing Specialist Firearms Officers (SFOs)
A few police officers in the London Borough of Greenwich are trained AFOs to provide occasional security for the high security court at Belmarsh.^{[citation needed]}