Met aims to bring more women into firearms squad

Scotland Yard has launched a drive to lure more women into the elite squad, which has traditionally been dominated by men.

Women make up 21 per cent of all Met officers but less than three per cent of the CO19 unit, about 12 officers out of a total of more than 500.

Senior officers believe the squad's macho ethos has deterred women but that female officers with guns could have a calming influence on their male colleagues.

Chief Supt Bill Tillbrook, the head of CO19, said: "We want the best people and we're looking for a woman's touch in our armed officers.

"The incidents we respond to are among the most challenging and the most demanding of policing situations and it's always our intention to resolve them safely."

He said women were often more aware of the emotions running during an incident and they had different negotiating skills to male officers.

"If there's a pub fight, for example, people will often calm down more quickly if it's a female officer asking them," he said.

Mr Tillbrook said the women officers in the unit had noticed a difference in the response of suspects cornered by police in an armed siege when they were "called out" by a female voice.

Often they were more likely to react less aggressively.

He added: "There are usually several answers to a situation and the more breadth of perspective among your officers, the more options you have."

The drive to recruit more female officers to the squad has included running women-only open days at its firearms training centre in Gravesend and appointing existing female CO19 officers to mentor applicants through the joining process.

Twenty three women officers signed up for training in the last two sessions and several more are under-going training.

Senior officers are also considering running special training sessions for women that fit around the morning and afternoon school runs.

Firearms officers in armed response vehicles are called out about 1,000 times a month to a wide variety of incidents in London. Shots are fired on average on only a couple of occasions per year, including the times when CO19 provides back-up to the Flying Squad or on drugs raids.

One of the aspiring female members of CO19 is Pc Funda Bay, who is part of a Safer Neighbourhood Team in Haringey.

She said: "It will be a challenge. It's not going to be easy but it's not unachievable.

"I see it as part of my personal development. Not a lot of women express an interest in CO19. Most women in the job think that it's only men who are interested.

"Men and women have a different viewpoint. Women have a defusing effect, calming things down."