Police 'only shared recommendations with staff, not specific details of problems'

The inquest to look into what lessons can be learnt from the Plymouth shootings today heard that criticism of someone currently making decisions has still not been shared with them.

The jury were told the department had a 'flawed system' at the time, due to a lack of resources, which had persisted for at least five years.

Superintendent Brent Davison, no connection to the gunman's family, is the new head of firearms licensing across Devon & Cornwall and Dorset Police and started in late October 2021.

He told the inquest the recommendations from the Durham Police peer review have been shared with staff who are now 'fully engaged' in the 'firearms licensing improvement plan' but the full review has not been shared with all staff.

He says the decision by the Assistant Chief Constable was to share recommendations and talk about the peer report's findings with more junior staff - but not share the report itself. Superintendent Davison was asked why that was the case, and if that could affect the performance of staff - and replied that the recommendations shared to staff about the changes are clear and the department now operates as he would 'expect it'.

The jury were told an independent peer review of the joint Devon & Cornwall and Dorset police firearms' licensing unit  - after the Keyham shootings - had raised concerns about a case from February 2021 in which the licensing manager overruled a more junior staff member.

The example suggests it took 10 weeks for a person with a 'marker for violence, assaulting police and drugs' to have their shotgun removed - despite information and intelligence to prevent them having a gun in the first place. The inquest was told the findings of the particular case have not been directly shared with the staff members involved.

Gun licenses are automatically reviewed every five years and the jury were told the current structure - for who can now review high risk licensing decisions -  is due to be reviewed by the chief constable this afternoon.

National guidance for the issuing of guns was updated in November 2021 and a dedicated team have since been working back through the 'backlog' and historic files. Some 'temporary licenses’ have been issued for low-risk renewal cases which are awaiting to be made.

The peer review - in the aftermath of the Keyham shootings - criticised some 'systems failures and a reliance on manual workarounds'. It found a lack of 'sign off or scrutiny' at a higher level to return guns and certificates if the junior officer felt it was 'low risk' - even though the decision to return a certificate is usually 'high risk'.

The inquest continues

Related links

Plymouth gunman's dad 'warned police not to issue firearms licence'

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The process of a 'high-risk' decision to award a shotgun licence to someone where it has previously been removed was outlined at the inquest - along with details of a 2015 report looking into the way 11 forces operated their firearms licensing department.

A video montage detailing the events of the night of the Keyham shooting was played to the jury at the inquest in Exeter.

The accounts of neighbours in Biddick Drive have been read to the jury at the ongoing inquests into the five people shot dead in Plymouth in August 2021.

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