BUT

I think there is much less to this article than the headline implies. (No, shoddy journalism you say? I’m shocked!) Go by memory (I read it yesterday) they are reporting something like four incidents in a twelve year period, compared to seven incidents in a four or five year period. While the percentage increase is huge, this happens when the absolute numbers are very low.

And to truly detect a trend, they would have to compare the number incidents with the number of firearms officers at the times the incidents occured . IIRC, Britain substantially increased their armed officers — is that rate of increase the same, higher, or even lower than the rate of NDs? Not covered in the article. POOR REPORTING.

NDs don’t appear to be a epidemic. They should worry more about how the police manage to shoot an innocent electrician in the head a number of times and then lose all those surveillance videos Britain is so famous for…

The other half is that most police style organizations don’t have the training budget for sufficient ongoing training to maintain proficiency. In the US, there are plenty of “off-duty” opportunities for officers who so desire to improve their skills (and, thereby, reinforce safe handling practices) on their own time. In England…not so much.