Armed Support

With exclusive access to Nottinghamshire police's Armed Response Unit, this episode reveals what it's like carrying a lethal weapon on the British streets, 'The Gucci end of the job'. Whether armed with 9mm pistols, semi-automatic carbines or tasers, the Armed Response Unit officers are highly trained and always ready for action, but praying they never have to pull the trigger and possibly take someone's life. The programme follows the officers as they stop a car they believe contains a weapon, detain a man accused of threatening to kill an ex-girlfriend and arrest a woman for confronting a former friend with a pistol. PC Dan Butler is philosophical about having to take a fatal shot: 'If they put themselves in a position where I have no choice but to take a shot at them, I will take that shot at them; but it's their choice and their life choices and actions which has led me to take that shot.' While Nottinghamshire police attend an average of 243 firearms incidents annually, there are on average 1500 occasions a year when tasers are deployed. Their use by British police is controversial, but many of the armed officers believe that all frontline police should have access to tasers. 'It's the best thing we've got,' says one. One officer describes being tasered: 'I've never experienced pain like it,' while another says: 'It's like holding an electric fence, but times that by 10,000.'