Armed police to be issued with special to combat terrorist vehicles
ARMED police are being issued with special bullets to shoot dead terrorists using trucks and lorries for mass murder.
Armed police are being issued with special bullets to shoot dead terrorists using trucks and lorries
The ammunition can hit drivers without being deflected by windscreens.
Armed officers have also changed tactics and are more likely to gun down terrorists at the wheel.
Atrocities involving vehicles in Nice, Berlin, Jerusalem and London prompted a review.
Deputy Chief Constable Simon Chesterman, who runs the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and is the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Armed Policing, said: “We used to talk about not shooting a moving vehicle. If we fired at a driver then clearly we might cause a real problem with the vehicle.
Heavily armed police patrol Westminster
The review was prompted by the atrocities involving vehicles in Nice (pictured), Berlin and London
Armed officers have also changed tactics and are more likely to gun down terrorists at the wheel
“But if the vehicle is being used as a weapon in the first place, there aren’t many tactics available in relation to stopping it, especially if it is a very large lorry. So driving a vehicle in front of it, for example is not going to stop it, so you need to shoot the driver.”
Britain’s armed policing strength will surge to more than 10,000 by next year as forces beef up their defences against terrorist attacks following the Paris atrocity in 2015.