Armed police in an unarmed country: legitimacy and self-legitimacy of English firearms officers

Clark-Darby, Oliver (2022) Armed police in an unarmed country: legitimacy and self-legitimacy of English firearms officers. In, Farmer, Clare and Evans, Richard (eds.) Policing & Firearms: New Perspectives and Insights. Springer, pp. 337-365. (doi:10.1007/978-3-031-13013-7_15).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

The British police are known for their ‘unarmed exceptionalism’: currently, fewer than 5% of officers are trained as authorised firearms officers (AFOs). This chapter explores the working life and worldview of those AFOs who are deployed on-call in armed response vehicles (ARVs). A framework of police legitimacy and self-legitimacy is used to investigate the interactions between AFOs and a public that is unused to seeing armed police. Drawing from over 200 h of ethnographic material gathered whilst observing officers on duty in ARVs across two English police forces, this chapter documents real-life interactions between the public and AFOs. No evidence of a visceral, negative public reaction to armed police is found. However, the on-call ARV model is seen by AFOs as impairing their ability to perform legitimate policing by distancing them from the public. Having the opportunity to interact with the public is affirmatory for AFOs and forms a critical part of their self-legitimacy.

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