Current firearms officers of ethnic origin

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.033119

I note you seek access to the following information:

How many current firearms officers are of ethnic origin?

Clarification: a colleague from the Data Office wrote to you by email and stated:
“Please clarify which ethnic origin your question relates to.”

Clarification - you responded to the email from the Data Office and stated:
“My enquiry relates to all ethnicities other than what might be termed ‘White British’.”

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

In the MPS, firearms support is provided by specially trained and accredited firearms officers known as Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs). The MPS has 323 AFOs who define as of Black, Asian or Mixed Ethnic Heritage. This figure was extracted from the MPS 2023 Armed Policing Strategic Threat and Risk Assessment (APSTRA) and includes AFOs from all armed MPS units. Please note that that this figure does not include Specially Trained Officers (STOs) - officers who do not carry firearms but have been trained and authorised in the carriage of TASER.

DUTY TO ADVISE AND ASSIST
Under Section 16 of the Act, there is a duty to advise and assist those that have made, or intend to make, a request for information. In accordance with this duty, I can confirm that the MPS publishes information about various types of crime on its website. I have provided a link to this information below.

MPS Website: Stats and Data

It may also assist you to note that the MPS proactively publishes all disclosures made in response to requests made under the Act on its Publication Scheme. I have provided a link to this section of the MPS website below.

MPS Publication Scheme

The MPS Publication Scheme can be searched using keywords and may accordingly hold other information that is of interest to you.