“The office of Home Secretary Jan Jambon announced it wants to see every new police recruit get firearms training,” says Stéphane Deldicque, permanent CSC-Services Publics (a public sector union) delegate following Thursday’s meeting between police unions and the Home Office to discuss arming officers in particular. “Working groups have finished their discussions on the subject,” explains the union representative. “Negotiations will now begin at the end of January.” Mr. Deldicque reveals that the Home Office offered three main options. “Firstly, all officers recruited in the future should be trained to use firearms. A training course dedicated to weapons will be added to the curriculum. Next, as for officers already in place, the Home Secretary suggested police zones should be given the choice. Lastly, each officer could also express their preference.”
“I find these suggestions interesting,” declares the Christian union representative, “even if we still need to talk about financing the project as well as about differences arising between police zones.” SLFP-Police made no immediate comment.
(Source: Belga)
