Lethal Force - Inside Armed Response

“The threat was that high, and your life flashes before your eyes… your instinct is to react proportionately. It was lethal force from him, and the only way to respond to that is with lethal force.” Those are the words of one of our highly trained, exceptionally skilled Armed Response officers, who puts firearms firmly in the crosshairs as he guest stars on our new podcast. In this episode, Matthew (not his real name!) takes us through the unseen pressures of carrying a firearm, the life-changing decisions that must be made in a split second, and what it takes to stay calm when the stakes couldn’t be higher. He recalls his first ever armed deployment – stopping a high-risk suspect car in the middle of Derby – and talks in great detail about the time he’s come closest to pulling the trigger when faced with an immediate threat. Matthew also chats about some of the specialist skills firearms cops need, and what it was like working side-by-side with former US President Joe Biden’s elite Secret Service in London (including what they thought of his Matalan suit). It’s an exclusive insight into one of the most intense roles in policing, and answers the ultimate question many of our followers have asked before: when faced with a very visible threat to life, could you be the one to use lethal force? So load up, lock in, and listen as we take you behind the barrel of the gun in an episode you won’t want to miss.