Bid to protect unarmed 999 teams

The "safety first " policy was drawn up to protect unarmed police officers and ambulance crews who are the first to arrive at shootings.

The policy emphasised finding the gunman first, rather than any victims.

There are now several cases where victims and people trying to help them have waited in distress alone while police have stood back and waited for an all-clear to go in.

Individual officers are as frustrated as anyone, often having to stand by and follow orders rather than their instincts.

After the Highmoor Cross murders, Thames Valley Chief Constable Peter Neyroud admitted police had been overcautious. He claimed the fiasco was due to failings in training and national policy.

In that case officers might have delayed even longer had not a detective, acting on his initiative, not stopped at the scene on his way to work and radioed to colleagues that the gunman was gone.

In the Tottenham incident it appears officers may also have ignored the rules when they responded to the victim's cousin on his bicycle and went to the scene without waiting for armed back-up.

The Association of Chief Police Officers is reviewing the national policy.

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