Police forces plan to cut home visits to gun owners

[25Pdr]

I'm not surprised at the BBC and their ant-gun stance, but I'm constantly amazed at Gun owners and Gun Dealers who seem quite happy with our restrictive Firearms Regime, and moan about any relaxation.

Police forces plan to cut home visits to gun owners

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12390553


http://www.gunshot.co.uk/index.php?opti ... ticle&id=5

Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire police plan to scrap blanket home visits, with people renewing licences on the phone.

In Essex police are considering carrying out gun licence renewals by post.

David Guest, who lives in Hertfordshire and has owned a gun for more than 20 years, said he was stunned to receive a call from police telling him his licence would be renewed on the telephone.

He said: "It might be saving them time and maybe money but I don't think it's a way of tightening up the laws."

Gun shop Steve Bagglia from St Albans said up to 30 customers had told him of their surprise at the move.

"I suppose you could call it unbelievable really.

"I would say it's an irresponsible way of going about it because you can't tell what people are like when you're just talking to them on the phone

Steve Ottaway is the collaboration programme director at Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire police.

He said: "We are not compromising public safety.

"We are taking a risk-based approach to this we can show that only 0.2 % of home visits actually lead to a revocation of a certificate in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

"Unfortunately in the current climate policing is having 20% removed from its budgets we have to make best use of that money and we are adopting a risk-based approach."

[Christel]

That guy has owned a gun as they call it...gun...surely it must be a rifle....anyway...for 20 years. Why is it not ok to renew over the phone.

Ovenpaa's SGC got renewed over the phone.

I am all for that.

[bobbob]

Sometimes it just isn't possible to explain properly over the phone. Bnz and I have just renewed. We had quite a job explaining that we wanted each others rifles put on the others certificates and the reasons behind it. We got there in the end but it was so much easier explaining face to face with the paperwork in front of us.

[ovenpaa]

Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire police plan to scrap blanket home visits, with people renewing licences on the phone.

In Essex police are considering carrying out gun licence renewals by post.

David Guest, who lives in Hertfordshire and has owned a gun for more than 20 years, said he was stunned to receive a call from police telling him his licence would be renewed on the telephone.

He said: "It might be saving them time and maybe money but I don't think it's a way of tightening up the laws."

Gun shop Steve Bagglia from St Albans said up to 30 customers had told him of their surprise at the move.

"I suppose you could call it unbelievable really.

"I would say it's an irresponsible way of going about it because you can't tell what people are like when you're just talking to them on the phone

I was surprised as well when I receive the call, surprised and disappointed that the two teams were merging as I have had superb service from my local team over the years and it is a shame to see them go like this. A personal thing really.

I see no issues with a phone call, Beds/Herts firearms licensing will have a detailed file on the person they contact at renewal time and I am quite sure if they have concerns they will pop out an see the applicant. More to the point if I have turned into an closet celery wielding Vegan over night I doubt a 15 minute home visit is going to reveal this. Interestingly I had a call from my SGC referee telling me the police had called her, we both agreed that was unusual.

They will continue to conduct home visits for new certificates and changes to security so as far as I am concerned the move towards telephone renewals is a positive thing especially if it leaves them more time to deal with more important matters.

Sometimes it just isn't possible to explain properly over the phone. Bnz and I have just renewed. We had quite a job explaining that we wanted each others rifles put on the others certificates and the reasons behind it. We got there in the end but it was so much easier explaining face to face with the paperwork in front of us.

We were lucky in that respect as they suggested such an arrangement, and after Christel and the FEO had spent a happy 20 minutes agreeing Shotgun owners were a poorly organised and ill disciplined rabble (OK I paraphrase here) I pointed out she would also have shared access to one of the cabinets that held shotguns. So he promptly suggested she apply for an SGC at the same time!

[Robin128]

A lot can happen in 5 years and I would rather the Police come and have a wee chat and eyeball me rather than take the risk of weakening the operation of the control framework and risking yet another knee jerk reaction to our sport in the event of a tragedy...a function of poor firearm certificate control.

[dodgyrog]

The problem is not FAC owners but the criminal element.
Put the time and effort into where it will do the most good. The old 80/20 rule - put 80% of your effort into the worst 20% of cases.
Renewal over the phone, why not?
If somebody has had an FAC for years why not keep the admin down to a minimum and stop wasting everybody's time and money.
Next step would be to bin the ACPO guidelines as the home office guidelines are the only ones based on the law.
Final step, scrap ACPO Ltd. - what an insult that we fund this bunch - it's a glorified union that thinks it is something special. A limited company even! The sooner we vote for our Chief Constables the better. :evil: :evil: :evil:

[Robin128]

The 80/20 approach is good in principle. :)

But you would need a tool/process etc to target the 20 and perhaps develop a reliable score card (no puns intended)...but don't know what data exists that could be captured and utilised for same that would result in the generation of relevant information for critical decision making purposes.

Or put it another way...garbage in, garbage out...but I'm all for being efficient AND economic, but not at the cost of effectiveness, in this instance.