Armed officers fear being 'sacrificed' as political pawns says ex-Home Office counter-extremism advisor following Met firearms crisis

Fermanagh man ​Ian Acheson made the comments after a crisis emerged in London which saw hundreds of officers give up their firearms permits, leaving the capital vulnerable in the event of a major attack.

It followed a decision to prosecute a firearms officer for murder a year after they fatally shot Chris Kaba, a 24-year-old man with gang associations who had been imprisoned for having a knife and an imitation gun, and who was driving a car which police had linked to a firearms incident a day earlier.

Mr Kaba turned out to be unarmed. He was given first aid but died two hours later in hospital.

The UK chapter of Black Lives Matter has been campaigning over his shooting (Mr Kaba was black).

In apparent protest at the decision to prosecute the officer for murder, an estimated 300 or so firearms-trained personnel handed back their licences, prompting the government to call in the army to make up the numbers.

However, yesterday it emerged enough officers had agreed to bear arms again that the government could rescind the army request.

Professor Acheson, senior advisor at the government’s Counter Extremism Project, and former senior civil servant at Home Office), said: “The public have a right to expect that an armed police response is available to counter and where justified eliminate a lethal threat.

"It's an awesome responsibility. I couldn't bear it.”

Asked if he feels there could be any knock-on effect in Northern Ireland, Mr Acheson said:

"The terrorism threat in Northern Ireland is severe, which means an attack is highly likely and that specialist officers must be able to react quickly and decisively to protect the public – deploying and using lethal force if necessary.

"This is a huge responsibility. Given Northern Ireland’s troubled past, there is a particular need for high levels of competence and accountability for these volunteers.

"But accountability goes both ways.

"Morale in the PSNI is at rock bottom because front-line officers perceive they will be sacrificed for political expediency.

"All police officers in NI are armed and routinely in harm’s way because of paramilitary violence.

"If they don’t trust their senior leadership or oversight bodies to assertively defend legitimate use of force, including firearms, we are in trouble in the split seconds police officers have to deal with lethal threats.”

Under the name “Itch” Mr Kaba had been a member of a “drill” group (a type of hardcore gangster rap) called “67”, which was linked to individuals involved in crack cocaine and heroin trafficking.

His lyrics included: “Boom, boom with that dotty / Facetime with that shotty [shotgun] /

"Skid, skrr with the guys, really tryna catch a body /

"Dash when I see 'dem lights, cah they know I got somebody /

"Went jail three times, ain't going back for nobody.”