The police service needs to train 6,000 more officers to cope with chemical, biological, radioactive or nuclear (CBRN) attacks, according to the Police Federation.
The service currently has 7,000 officers trained to deal with CBRN situations. The Home Office announced last week that an additional 5,000 officers would be given the necessary training, Police Review reports.
But Bob Elder, chair of the Police Federation’s central committee, which represents more than 139,000 officers, said he still had concerns over police resilience.
“If the number of officers is to be increased to 12,000 then that is welcome news…but I have always maintained that we need around 18,000 officers,” he said.
