The police watchdog has heavily criticised a police force for making no safety plans before a public event at which a young girl was injured when an assault rifle was fired into the ground.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it was sheer good luck that no one was more seriously injured at the Nottinghamshire police day for young competition winners.
The officer who fired the weapon has since been moved to non-firearms duties, the IPCC’s report into the incident said.
The investigation found that Nottinghamshire police had no safety policies about the use of firearms at events where the public were present before the incident in October last year.
The IPCC said that because operational authorised firearms officers, or AFOs, were obliged to keep their weapons loaded, they should not be involved in such occasions.
The incident happened at an outdoor event for competition winners and their families at Nottinghamshire police headquarters in Arnold, north of Nottingham. When an officer fired his assault rifle into the ground, the bullet casing struck a seven-year-old girl, injuring her lip.
“The investigation found no protocols or policies were in place prior to the incident which dealt with the use of firearms, live or otherwise, at public events,” the IPCC said. “In addition, evidence showed no risk assessment was undertaken concerning the use of firearms ahead of the demonstration.”
The officer who fired the shot faced a hearing for gross incompetence, and has been moved to a unit with no firearm or Taser duties. Of two other officers connected to the incident, one has since left the firearms section and the other will take training on how to plan public events.
The IPCC commissioner, Derrick Campbell, said: “The seriousness of this matter cannot be [over]estimated. It is through good fortune that no one was more seriously injured. The officer’s actions, while not deliberate, posed a genuine risk to those present.
“A number of sensible, logical recommendations have been made which the force has accepted, including replacing live firearms with training weapons at future public events.”
Nottinghamshire police have apologised to the injured child and her parents. The Nottinghamshire chief constable, Chris Eyre, said it had been “an extremely serious incident” and the force would learn from it.
He said: “Public safety is our number one priority and we do not take lightly the recommendations made in the report in respect of operational firearms and public displays and our training of firearms officers.
“Immediately following the discharge, we undertook measures in respect of safe weapons handling and defining safety parameters for any future public demonstrations. We will continue to ensure the extremely thorough training of firearms officers is embedded and tested to ensure compliance with regional and national procedures.”
