On the 19th of January, officers from the Greater Manchester Police Armed Response Unit (Firearms) visited Ashton Sixth Form College.

 The team spoke to students from BTEC Public Services and A-level Law for over an hour; discussing scenarios and details surrounding how the Firearms unit deal with a range of incidents.

The Firearms unit is concerned with protecting members of the public from all crime and specialise in dealing with violent disorder. Based in Openshaw, the team cover Greater Manchester and sometimes cross border to Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside. The team are also mobilised in order to assist regular response and neighbourhood officers as well as liaising with counter terrorism units in the event of royal or high profile visits to the area.

The officers gave students an insight into firearms legislation and ran through the equipment they carry whilst on duty. The talk concluded with the students heading outside the classroom, for a tour of one of the force’s Armed Response Vehicle’s (ARV). Students gathered around the ARV for around 30 minutes whilst the officers showed kit such as The Enforcer (battering ram) and cabinets containing a range of confiscated firearms.

The students were hugely grateful to the officers for giving up their time and were really interested to hear them talk about their duties and specialist equipment.