How do I become a firearms officer? ?

Question

I am from the UK and want to be a Firearms officer, do I need any specific college/university qualifications?

How do I become a firearms officer, do I need to become a normal police officer first and then if I am good enough after a certain amount of time become a firearms officer?

What is the average salary of a firearms officer?

Answer 1

become a police officer first

Answer 2

You have to be a regular police officer first - do your two years probation, then start applying to be selected as a firearms officer.  There are a number of tests and then you have to wait for a position to come up.  Different forces have slightly different procedures, but that's the basics.

You can be AFO trained and not normally be armed, but be called to work certain firearms operations, or be a full time firearms officer.  A lot of AFOs work the airports, which isn't really that glamourous.

The only other way is to become a specialist agency officer, like for the nuclear power plants.  You're technically a police officer, but you're really just a glorified security officer with a gun.  They get loads of toys, if you like that sort of thing, the pay's pretty good, but it's 12hour shifts, mindnumbingly boring and you have to work places like Sellafield.  Plus there's the fact that if you ever do encounter a terrorist breaking into a nuclear power plant, you've got to wonder if firing guns is the best idea...

Answer 3

you need to join the police and do at least your two years probation before applying to specialise but most police departments will want a few years unblemished service before they even consider firearms applications and even then there are a range of psychological tests before acceptance. Additionally the salary isnt any different from that of a normal police officer of the same rank. If you want to be a policeman and be armed your best bet is to apply for the Police Service of Northern Ireland, all their officers are routinely armed, however if you just want to do this job to get your hands on a gun rather than make a difference then I dont think its the career for you

Answer 4

You will need to serve two years as a normal police officer before you can apply to the role of firearms officer or any specialist department sometimes 18 months but you would have to be a exceptionally good police officer with a wide range of policing experience obtained in those 18 months, any law or social related qualification is good when applying to the police force but not a requirement.

Salarys are the same as a regular police officer in basic wage, depending on where you are living but will range from 20-25k,  firearms officers will get extra allowances on top of this basic salary.

Answer 5

can the police personnel email not tell you? I would assume you are in ordinary police for a probationary period then you pass the tests and enrol as an officer, and then apply to go to a different departments after a probationary stage, and as it is specialised need to  have special training for a few years perhaps, and then sit more interviews and exams against other candidates. I assume so anyway. Work your way up through the ranks/departments.

Answer 6

In the UK forces you have to join and complete your probationary period first. After that I would suggest spending time working the beat and gaining experience. I spent 8 years on the beat before becoming an AFO (Authorised Firearms Officer).

Obviously you have to wait for vacancies to come along and then submit an application which has to be backed by your line managers. The competition is stiff due to the large numbers that apply. I had to submit a general application followed by a further application giving examples under specific skill headings. After this we were all subject of a paper sift, where numerous candidates were discounted at the first hurdle. We also had a fitness test, which admittedly was fairly easy. After this came an interview before the successful candidates were selected to attend the next available firearms course.

The firearms course consisted of five weeks, split between shooting and tactics. It was fairly testing and if you failed a classification on any weapon you were instantly binned from the course.

I have been a firearms officer for 4 years and can honestly say I love the job. I mostly work the ARV's attending and dealing with spontaneous firearms incidents. This can be the most testing work because preplanned jobs cater for every eventuality. I also get involved in preplanned jobs as well. In any downtime we patrol in the ARV's and deal with normal police work. We get involved in pursuits and make plenty of arrests. We generally hand prisoners on though as we have to stay available for any deployments.

The pay is no different to any other officer, whether that be a beat officer or other specialist officer. The pay is rank and scale related. You basically get a pay rise each year until you reach the top payscale in that rank.

Answer 7

If you do become a firearms officer do not leave your weapon in a public toilet,like one has done in Central London