Armed police offer didn’t shoot during stab attack

The routine deployment of armed police in Scotland has been questioned by MSPs since last year. Picture: Ian Rutherford

AN ARMED police officer chose not to fire his weapon despite receiving four stab wounds in a “frenzied attack”, MSPs have heard.

Giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s justice sub-committee on policing yesterday, Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins said officers decided not to shoot the man during the incident on The Mound in Edinburgh last year, fearing a bullet could hit an innocent member of the public.

Senior officers from Police Scotland were re-called to give evidence to the committee after telling MSPs earlier this month that police attached to armed response vehicles (ARVs) had responded to more than 1,600 routine incidents since October.

Describing the Edinburgh incident, ACC Higgins said officers would have been justified in using firearms, but chose not to.

He said: “As they got out of the vehicle, the man ran at them and started to try and stab them. One of my officers was stabbed four times. Despite being stabbed four times, despite suffering a frenzied attack, both officers still used their professional assessment and their judgment and in my view they could have been justified in using their conventional weapon against that individual, but they didn’t.”

ACC Higgins said the two officers managed to subdue the man by other means, fearing a bullet could have gone through the attacker and struck an innocent passer-by.

He added: “So even under the most intense, frenzied attack, the training that these officers received allowed them to make an assessment and they realised that they could not go to their conventional weapon.

“That was a terrible, terrible incident, but if nothing else it assured me of the courage of the officers and their utmost professionalism.”

Last year, Police Scotland said armed officers would only be deployed to firearms incidents or those where there is a threat to life.

However, it emerged earlier this month that armed officers are continuing to use their own discretion to attend more routine incidents.

Yesterday MSPs heard that 207 fixed penalty notices for anti-social behaviour had been issued by police attached to ARVs since October.

However, that figure accounted for roughly 0.9 per cent of all fixed penalty notices issued by Police Scotland in that period. The committee also heard that of 5,000 complaints to Police Scotland from the public since May, only 27 had been about armed policing.

Despite the controversy last year, however, John Finnie MSP, a former police officer, said it appeared “nothing has really changed at all”.

Referring to a press photograph from last year which showed armed officers responding to an incident in the Highland capital, he asked: “If for instance there were to be a breach of the peace in Inverness High Street [now], could we anticipate three armed officers attending that?”

ACC Higgins answered: “When does a breach of the peace become a serious assault? When does a serious assault become an attempted murder? And when does a fight in the street tragically lead to the death of somebody?

“If you’re asking me do I want my firearms officers to prevent somebody escalating through that street fight to a potential murder inquiry then, yes, absolutely.”