Metropolitan Police officers should be routinely armed with guns amid soaring knife crime, a confidential Scotland Yard review advises.
The internal document reportedly said the force should consider arming staff from basic command units with semi-automatic pistols to protect them from violent criminals.
But police chiefs rejected the recommendation because it was contrary to the British tradition of policing by consent, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The revelation comes after a recent report found that knife crime has soared by 86 per cent in London in a decade, with the number of offences surging by 58 per cent in just the three years between 2021 and 2024.
Currently, handguns are restricted to specially-trained officers who are part of units such as Counter Terrorism Command.
A review unit was commissioned by the Met’s public and personal safety after two officers were slashed with a kitchen knife in Leicester Square in 2022.
The weapons would not “be used proactively but able to be used when faced with a spontaneous threat”, the report stated.
It said it was “incumbent” on the Met to provide “adequate training to assist officers” even if it was “impossible to train for every possible eventuality”.
“The dangers faced by police officers are genuine and can have catastrophic results,” it said. “By not training to negate or at least mitigate these dangers the Metropolitan Police Service has failed in its duty to safeguard its own staff.”
Elsewhere in the report, the authors argued there should be a review into the use of batons to allow strikes to an assailant’s head.
Routine arming has not destroyed legitimacy – it has saved lives
It also recommended that officers be issued with individual first-aid kits, as well as changing the colour of patrol shirts from white to blue or black so assailants could not stab “vulnerable” areas of the body.
However, the Met turned down the proposal to arm more officers with guns and will instead train 10,000 officers with Tasers within two years.
But critics argue the concept of unarmed policing, developed from Sir Robert Peel's principles in the 19th century, is “outdated”.
Rory Geoghegan, a former Thames Valley Police officer and founder of the Public Safety Foundation, said: “Across Europe and much of the rest of the world, routine arming has not destroyed legitimacy – it has saved lives.”
“What corrodes trust is not seeing a constable carry a pistol, but seeing one cut down by a knife or gunfire because their leaders denied them the tools to protect themselves and the public.”
Last week, three men were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after an officer was stabbed in the neck while on duty in Hounslow.
And on Saturday, it was revealed that 26 officers were injured during the Unite the Kingdom rally in central London organised by Tommy Robinson.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Sunday that the country “will not stand for assaults on police officers doing their job”.
Firearms units have faced severe shortages of recruits following the controversial shooting of Chris Kaba in Streatham three years ago by Martyn Blake, who is currently facing a misconduct probe by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
He was charged with murder following the shooting, but jurors took just three hours to find him not guilty during his trial at Central Criminal Court.
A Met spokesperson said: “The safety of our officers is of paramount importance and we are constantly reviewing our practices to ensure they have the most appropriate training and support.
“The Met follows national guidance from the College of Policing which does not support the arming of all frontline officers. All officers are however equipped with batons and Pava spray, with thousands also trained to use a Taser.
“The Met’s specialist firearms units consists of thousands of experienced officers. These officers play a vital role in keeping London safe and where there is a necessity, will be deployed to support their unarmed colleagues.”
Main suspect in Madeleine McCann disappearance refuses interview with Met Police
Nine arrests and more to come as police attacked at Tommy Robinson protest
Police ‘assaulted’ and face ‘aggression’ from Tommy Robinson protesters
Thousands to descend on London for Tommy Robinson rally and counter-protest
