BASC welcomes new training programme for firearms enquiry officers

A new training programme for firearms enquiry officers which BASC helped to develop was launched at a meeting of the College of Policing this week.

As a key stakeholder, BASC was invited to attend the launch, alongside representatives from 41 of the UK’s police forces’ firearms licensing departments and other shooting organisations.

BASC played a significant role in developing the new course, working closely with the British Shooting Sports Council (BSSC), with the aim of ensuring professional competence amongst firearms enquiry officers (FEOs) and to achieve consistent good practice across the forces.

In helping to develop the programme, BASC contributed to the structure of a number of the training outputs. The launch event also offered the opportunity for BASC’s head of firearms, Martin Parker, to meet many of the heads of licensing departments and discuss current issues.

Mr Parker said: “BASC very much welcomes the introduction of the course and we’ve played a significant role in developing aspects of the training programme, including familiarisation with the different shooting disciplines, handling and making safe commonly encountered firearms and the opportunity to shoot both shotguns and rifles.

“We look forward to continuing to assist with the development of the course and we remain committed to the delivery of the subsequent training. The ultimate goal would be to ensure the course becomes the standard across all police forces and becomes fully accredited.”

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