Frontline officers call for guns to be stored in police cars

Frontline police officers are demanding access to guns in their vehicles as part of a major overhaul of how the force operates in Scotland.

The Scottish Police Federation (SPF), which represents the vast majority of officers, says the change is needed to protect staff facing increasing levels of violence.

The model, already adopted in New Zealand, sees officers not routinely armed but given access to weapons which are stored in their vehicles.

There are currently only around 500 authorised firearms officers in Scotland with access to guns.

The call is part of the Federation’s manifesto for police reform, released ahead of the Holyrood election, which also includes demands for all officers to carry tasers.

David Kennedy, general secretary of the SPF, said those who brandish a knife should expect to be shot by officers under the calls.

He told STV News: “We don’t have enough police personnel trained in that way, and we’re putting police officers as well as members of the public at risk when we don’t have that capability.

“So allowing the police cars or vans to have safes within them with firearms available, for trained officers, that will allow more safety to be quicker and allow officers to deal with matters quicker as well.”

The call comes after Liridon Kastrati was jailed for ten years for trying to murder a police officer with a chainsaw in Paisley in 2024.

In 2022, Finlay MacDonald shot and killed his brother-in-law and stabbed his wife on Skye before going to shoot two other people while unarmed police were in pursuit.

Officers were ordered not to stop the car and to await firearms officers travelling to the scene from Inverness.

Police Scotland at ‘critical inflection point’

The Federation is also demanding an extra 3,000 officers to boost local policing while describing Police Scotland as being at a “critical inflection point” following a decade of austerity.

Their manifesto accuses the current criminal justice system of placing too much emphasis on non-custodial outcomes, adding that the system “appears to have no meaningful deterrent”.

The manifesto makes calls for the reversal of non-attendance policies, stronger remand thresholds and annual investment at least in line with inflation.

The SPF has also outlined the need for better psychological support for officers who routinely encounter traumatic situations, to improve staff welfare and retention.

Police Scotland has been contacted for comment.