SENIOR figures at Wiltshire Police have dismissed calls to arm all police officers in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in London and Manchester.

Since the attack in the capital on Saturday night, demands for all officers to carry guns has intensified.

But the county’s second-in-command, the elected police commissioner and the man representing officers on the ground have all spoken out against such a move.

Assistant chief constable Kier Pritchard said: “I feel that we should continue to discuss this issue and review what the policing needs are for the country as a whole.

However, as the Met Commissioner has stated, we do not see routinely arming officers as something we are looking to do.

“Currently each force has the ability to call upon and deploy highly trained armed officers as part of our response to operational incidents.

“In this country we police by consent and this is something the public want.

“The armed response to the London incident shows us highly trained firearms officers are effective.

“The emergency response in both Manchester and London has been incredible and the brave actions of those at the scenes make us all proud to be part of the police family.

“What is vital is that we build ever stronger relationships with our communities, where there is mutual trust and understanding and people feel confident in coming forward with information. It is this information sharing that could help to prevent radicalisation and extremism and this is the message we need to continue to convey.”

Inspector David Ibbott, the chairman of Wiltshire Police Federation said it would be an impossible task to arm all officers and he added that becoming a firearms officer was a highly selective process.

“You have to go through quite a rigorous set of criteria,” he said.

“Some police officers don’t pass those tests. You would have to lower standards to such a level.

“I don’t think the public and the police in general would accept the lowering of those standards.

And he said: “When they deployed in London, the criminal were killed within eight minutes.

“That takes an extremely high level of professionalism.”

Speaking about the non-lethal weapon Taser, he said: “I do believe it could be rolled out to every police officer ad training could be given, but there is a selection process.

“I would like to see all officers have the ability to use Taser. But some officers don’t want to carry it. It’s a voluntary thing.

“With carrying a firearm comes enormous responsibility. I don’t think every officer would be suited to it.”

Insp Ibbott said he did not believe the public would be any more or less safe if all officers were armed.

“Putting it into perspective, what we had in London in this tragic and terrible incident was a highly unusual circumstance and they still managed to get firearms officers there in eight minutes,” he said.

Insp Ibbott said in the USA, more officers are killed by their own weapons each year than by criminals “I want a highly trained, professional firearms officer who wants to be a firearms officer, who has volunteered, who has gone through a rigorous process in a country that’s predominantly not a gun-toting country.

“What we do need is more firearms officers, more trained professionals.

“Since 2010 we have lost over 1,300 firearms officers.

“They have cut the police by 20,000. That’s the area the government needs to be held to account on.

“In the capital, as in any major city, firearms officers will be there very quickly.

“In Wiltshire we would take a lot longer to arrive at a firearms incident.

“You could be looking at half-an-hour to 45 minutes. If I can get a firearms car to an incident in less than 30 minutes I think I’m doing well.

“We need a full compliment of firearms officers at all times. The cuts to policing are making it more difficult to recruit firearms officers.”

But he added: “We are still safe and secure. The number of firearms incidents we get in Wiltshire is minuscule.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson said: “I do not support the idea of arming all police officers.

“The tradition of policing in this country is that officers police by consent, not by force. To have police officers routinely carrying weapons would be to change the whole ethos of policing in Britain.”

“Of course we need some officers to be armed. They are specially trained and can be called on in an emergency to keep people safe. But we need to maintain a largely unarmed police service which works in close partnership with the communities it serves.”