FTOC Handout

Use of force should only occur when prompted by an environmental or situational factor, such as suspects drawing a firearm; pointing a firearm; or discharging a firearm at a person.

A police officer will be deemed to have used a firearm or a less lethal weapon when it is:

• deliberately pointed or aimed at another person

• fired at another person

• discharged in any other operational circumstances, including an unintentional discharge.

• Holding (Drawing) your firearm/taser by your side is not considered a use of force

Reasonable Force:

Factors to assist in establishing whether the use of force is reasonable:

• Is the use of force lawful? (ie, is the aim one of those outlined in S3 of the Criminal Law Act, S117 Police and Criminal Evidence Act or Common Law?)

• Is the degree of force proportionate in the circumstances?

• Were other options considered? If so, what were they and why were those options discounted?

• Was the method of applying force following police procedures and training?

Threat to Life:

When it is considered necessary to discharge a firearm at a threat, police officers need to shoot to stop an imminent threat to life. The imminence of any threat should be judged, with respect of the potential for loss of life, with due regard paid to legislation and consideration of absolute necessity, reasonableness and proportionality.

Improper and Unlawful Force:

Any police officer who has reason to believe that improper force has been used or is about to be used by another police officer shall, to the best of their capability, prevent and rigorously oppose any such use of force.

An officer shall, at the earliest opportunity, report the matter to their command or supervisor and, where necessary, to other appropriate authorities vested with responsibility for investigating such matters.

Your use of force is lawful when the aim is outlined in S3 of the Criminal Law Act, S117 of PACE or Common Law.

With the use of your firearm, the following should be taken into consideration:

• Declaration & Commands

• Backdrop, Cross-Fire & Reactionary Gap

• Shoot & Assess

• Stay Safe Principle

Declaration & Commands:

When deploying your firearm you must always announce yourself as “Armed Police” followed by clear, concise and assertive commands. 

For example “Armed Police, male in the red hoodie - stand still and show me your hands”

Backdrop, Cross-Fire & Reactionary Gap:

When deploying a firearm it is always crucial to stay aware of your surroundings, and specifically, what is behind your target, the backdrop. For example, if a suspect is in front of a crowd of people that would be an important consideration and might prompt you to order the suspect or crowd to move, reposition yourself, or reconsider the use of the firearm.

Crossfire refers to when you and a colleague are on opposing sides of a target and risk ending up in each other's arc of fire. To avoid this we always try to stay at no more than a 90-degree angle from our colleagues concerning the target, the Tactical-L.

The Reactionary Gap is the distance between you and the subject. To avoid unnecessary risk to officers, ensure to keep the distance between yourself and any subject far enough to allow you to react and act on any threat that presents itself.

Shoot & Assess:

We always shoot to neutralise threats, not to kill. This means that every round fired needs to meet the criteria for lethal use of force. After every round fired, you are to re-assess whether that level of force is still necessary. Additionally we always aim for the centre of mass when deploying the firearm.

Stay Safe Principle:

SSP refers to Observe, Report, and Withdraw. This means that if you find yourself in a scenario which you are not able to deal with then simply observe and gather any intelligence such as VRMs; report it over radio so that appropriate units can attend; then withdraw yourself.

Scenarios consist of one pilot scenario to establish a benchmark, following this there will be two training scenarios where you are receiving feedback & demonstrations from the instructors.

To get the certification you need to perform & pass the last two test scenarios

Each scenario will be different and vary in the amount of force you will have to use. After the scenario, the instructor will walk you through step by step and explain what you have done successfully and what needs more work. 

Safety Briefing:

During the scenarios all options can be deployed as usual, please state *Panic Panic* during the scenarios to indicate you pressing your alarm. All personnel who aren't wearing Instructor vests or police markings are to be considered as part of the scenario. Instructors will be wearing high visibility vests with ‘Firearms Instructor’ on the back. 

The training rifles will be acting as a 2 handed gun which will be told to you before the scenarios start and ASP batons are to be seen as bladed articles. 

During the scenarios you will be assessed on everything you do, so play it out as if it was a real situation. This means that all radio comms (I.e. call for backup, description of suspects, updating the Force Incident Manager etc.) are to be performed.

EndEx stands for End Exercise – when said by a trainer it means the scenario is over.

WHEN HANDLING A TRAINING PISTOL THIS IS CONSIDERED TO BE A LIVE FIREARM, IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY DISCHARGE IT THIS IS TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN ASSESSING YOUR PERFORMANCE IN THE FTOC.

Passing this course will give you access to the Glock 17 Service Pistol and an attachable flashlight.

The rules of deployment & carrying will be found in the Avant-Garde Rules and Procedures.