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[Fedster + 1,307]

Firearms exercise incident saw live ammunition 'miss by inches'.

Not in the line of duty: Firearms' exercise error

Date - 29th August 2018
By - Nick Hudson - Police Oracle

2 Comments

 

A force has agreed to instigate a full review of its weapons procedures after an officer was fired at with live bullets during a training drill.

Health and safety experts have decided no punitive action is necessary against the City of London Police for the life-threatening incident three-and-a-half years ago.

But Sergeant Robert Haughey is bringing a reported £250,000 civil claim against the force after the near-miss left him suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and now unable to carry out his duties.

The 47-year-old, from Strood in Kent, found himself under “friendly fire” when a bullet shattered a window inches from him in a firearms exercise at the Connaught army barracks in Dover.

He realised the fellow City of London officer was not using blanks on March 19, 2015, a High Court action has revealed.

In a writ filed against the force, his lawyers said he felt “panic and terror” when he discovered live bullets were being fired in his direction, adding: “He feared for his life and suffered psychiatric injuries as a result.”

The writ claims his injuries were caused by “negligence” and says the PTSD causes “anxity, depression, sleep disturbance, flashbacks, intrusive memories and recurrent nightmares". 

It also alleges he is unable to return to police dujties and “handicapped on the open labour market”.

The force admits its officer “discharged live rounds from a firearm that was supposed to be using imitation rounds” but “no one was struck by those discharged live rounds”.

This incident was reviewed by the force’s Police Professional Standards Department in 2015, overseen by a senior investigating officer.

A number of recommendations were made and an action plan – managed by the City of London’s firearms senior leadership team – implemented to ensure that it could not happen again. Improvements have included further training for some of the officers involved.

A subsequent investigation by the Health and Safety Executive concluded that no further action was necessary.

However, a number of recommendations were highlighted by the HSE that the City of London Police is “working towards” – including a full review of the transportation, storage, and retention of ammunition and weapons within the force.

How live ammunition came to be fired in the direction of an officer on that day is a matter on which the force is remaining tight-lipped.

It could have been a booking in or out procedural mistake or the officer – who may have been using live and simulation ammunition in an earlier training exercise – became confused and put the wrong magazine in.

A force spokeswoman added: “There is an ongoing civil claim and as a result we will not be commenting on the specifics of the incident or individuals involved.”

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[Growley + 2,436]

When I saw the headline, I'll admit my first thought was that someone got a little precious over a live fire cover and movement drill... but having read what actually happened, that's terrible. There must've been multiple failures by multiple people to allow that to happen.

[Ether + 1,427]

Man up!!!!

[David + 4,981]

I'm confused. Was the officer in question actually on a or the firearms training course himself, or did he just happen to be in the same area on an unrelated matter at the same time when this occurred?

[ParochialYokal 1,119]

I'm confused. Was the officer in question actually on a or the firearms training course himself, or did he just happen to be in the same area on an unrelated matter at the same time when this occurred?

 

I assume that as he is CoLP and the training course was in Kent, he was there for the same thing and not merely walking past at the time?

 

I kinda have mixed feelings. I have never nearly been shot but he was seemingly an AFO (speculation), so perhaps he would have reasonably expected at some point in his career to be shot at?

 

I guess it is down to the medical reports. Does he really have PTSD? I guess the medical evidence suggests that he does, or he wouldn’t be bringing the case.

 

Has the incident rendered him unable to continue with his police career? Hmmm- I am sure that there are plenty of non-front line roles he could do. The City of London is hardly the Wild West- it is one of the most crime free areas in the country for a uniformed police officer to work.

[Mac7 808]

This is the second arricle I’ve read today whereby PTSD has been (strongly) mentioned. It feels like the condition is being diagnosed very casually in certain circumstances and is almost insulting to those with “true” PTSD.

[Growley + 2,436]

Personally, I'm not concerned over whether or not they have PTSD, it's more the notion that more than one person messed up enough to allow live rounds into a training scenario.

That means nobody checked the magazines they brought out, nobody checked the magazines they loaded their weapons with, and then they've given a declaration of having no live rounds during the safety brief and signed to that effect.

We know from the job's statement that this was unintentional, so it's not like it was a live fire training scenario.

[David + 4,981]

1 hour ago, ParochialYokal said:

I kinda have mixed feelings. I have never nearly been shot but he was seemingly an AFO (speculation), so perhaps he would have reasonably expected at some point in his career to be shot at?

This is what I am trying to establish. If he was an officer passing through I can understand the angst, though not necessarily agree with him suing. I can also accept that during a training exercise such things shouldn't happen, but, if he was/is a firearms officer on training or whatever, they surely at some point in his career he's going to be prepared for the expectation he would be shot at? That leaves me with mixed feelings too.

[ParochialYokal 1,119]

This is what I am trying to establish. If he was an officer passing through I can understand the angst, though not necessarily agree with him suing. I can also accept that during a training exercise such things shouldn't happen, but, if he was/is a firearms officer on training or whatever, they surely at some point in his career he's going to be prepared for the expectation he would be shot at? That leaves me with mixed feelings too.

When the military sign up they expect to both train under live fire and also experience it.

I am not going to question whether or not he has PTSD, but I am questioning why he can’t return to work in a ‘low risk’ role. Literally, nothing happens within the City of London Police district that is comparable to what officers experience elsewhere. So long as he doesn’t cross the line and enter the MPD, there are so many things that he could do that are ‘low risk’.

[Ether + 1,427]

1 hour ago, ParochialYokal said:

 

When the military sign up they expect to both train under live fire and also experience it.

 

 

This comment has zero relevance, the fact is he wasn’t shot and one round in the vacinity of someone shouldn’t be that impactive unless there is some other underlying issues. If you have PTSD off one round but not countless violent encounters as a police officer, there is issues. 

PTSD is banded about far to easily these days, similar to depression being the excuse every time someone has a bad day. 

Now bringing live rounds to a training session and having an ND, that’s the real concern. 

Edited August 29, 2018 by Funkywingnut

[Reasonable Man + 1,251]

Amazing how many mental health experts there are on this forum.
Must be a link between psychiatry and policing.

[SimonT + 1,194]

Having live rounds being discharged when they shouldn't be and potentially endangering a person. The force should hold up their hands and pay and move on. 

[Ether + 1,427]

4 hours ago, Reasonable Man said:

Amazing how many mental health experts there are on this forum.
Must be a link between psychiatry and policing.

I did an online course, that qualifies me right ???? 😱

[Reasonable Man + 1,251]

I did an online course, that qualifies me right ???? [emoji33]

NCALT?
I’ll look for it [emoji67]‍[emoji310]