The Northumbria Police serves a population of around 1.5 million people and covers an area of more than 2,000 square miles in the North East of England.

Here you can see one of their “Firearms Officers” with a sniper rifle, over watching the runners on Tyne Bridge as the Half Marathon Great North Run progresses.

It’s sad to see that the UK Police have to call it a “Firearms Officer“, but my understanding is that carrying a firearm is something you volunteer to do as a Policeman in the UK. Please correct me if I’m wrong, or add information in the comments below.

According to Wikipedia the terms are: “Authorised Firearms Officers (AFO) to attend incidents where firearms might be needed and Specialist Firearms Officers are usually trained to a higher standard than an AFO.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_police_firearms_in_the_United_Kingdom

With budgets being what they are these days, it’s interesting to see that the UK Police went for a rifle with a lot of bang for the Pound.

I would have expected an Accuracy International over his shoulder, but to my surprise they are using the Ruger Precision Rifle.

It looks like they got a Leupold scope and Harris bipod fitted, a very basic setup – at least compared to a lot of target shooters!

Our Firearms Officers are among the officers on patrol today, keep a look out & make sure to say hello & get a selfie

It looks like a Ruger Precision Rifle in .308 Win, 20″ barrel, Gen 1.

So, it’s time to add another firearm to the list of Firearms the Police are using in the UK.

Red Arrows flying over the Tyne Bridge.

You can find some other options like Sako TRG M10, Tikka T3x TAC A1 and another Ruger in this recent TFB post.