BCH APU National advert
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire (BCH) Police are looking for authorised firearms officers (AFO / ARVO) and qualified national firearms instructors to join their dynamic two base armed policing team. The Armed Policing Unit is a successful collaboration supporting 24/7-armed response across all three forces with overt, high visibility patrols at London Luton Airport as a key part of the departments remit. If you’re looking to develop your career and uncover new challenges, BCH APU is a diverse organisation both internally and geographically. There are two operating bases, in Huntingdon and at the brand-new facility at Luton Airport with the firearms training centre based out of Bedfordshire Police HQ. There are opportunities to ‘upskill’ to ARVO based on vacancies on the territorial ARV team.
The Operational teams work a 4 on 4 off pattern and receive a targeted variable payment of £2000.
The NFI teams work a two-week pattern. Week 1 – Monday – Thursday – 0800 – 1800. Week 2 – Tuesday to Friday 0800-18:00. NFI’s receive the targeted variable payment of £2000. There is a requirement for NFI to join the Tactical Advisor on call rota.
Officers have exclusive access to a range of vehicles including Volvo XC90s and bespoke vehicles to support surveillance operations and CAT A prison Escorts.
The team maintains armed support to the forces in respect of spontaneous armed response, ARV CBRN incidents and demands in respect of counter terrorism including frequently supporting national events through mutual aid. Officers also maintain a permanent presence at Luton Airport with initial attendance at high risk response policing incidents. In addition to dealing with wide ranging crime and disorder, our officers are often required to police high profile local and national events across each of the three forces, support to visiting royals and dignitaries and the escorting of high profile prisoners.
Who we’re looking for
Policing is tough and officers are often required to deal with conflict in dynamic situations. In the vast majority of situations, these are resolved using carefully selected verbal communication, body language and by managing human interaction.
While our armed officers attend numerous incidents each year, they are expertly trained in advanced levels of conflict resolution and de-escalation which means that it is incredibly rare for an officer to have to discharge their firearm to achieve a peaceful conclusion.
We're looking for officers with a strong and analytical mind as well as emotional awareness, as firearms officers require the ability to process significant amounts of information dynamically and then take reasoned and defensible action under pressure. They will be looking to take all possible eventualities into consideration, assessing the information available, measuring the risks and determining the best course of action; all before the use of a firearm.
The process
Essential criteria
- Officers confirmed in Rank and outside of probationary period
- Currently working in a Home Office Force
- AFO / ARVO with no outstanding training development needs,
- If applying as NFI - hold a recognised training qualification at level 3 or above, experience of writing, developing and delivering Firearms Training in line with the National Firearms Curriculum, Must have good working knowledge of APP Armed Policing and NDM
- Advanced driver trained (if only response driver trained, then prior to appointment to BCH APU a driving school assessment drive will need to be completed)
- No live misconduct investigations and PDR or equivalent to be submitted with the application
STAGE 1 – Application
Interested officers are invited to confirm that you achieve the minimum entry requirements. You will need to submit your firearms training records directly to Ian Mann for review by CFI so that BCH FTC can advise on what additional training if any will be required once transferred.
STAGE 2 – Professional Discussion
Successful applicants will then be invited to attend Professional Discussion with members of the APU SMT.
STAGE 3 – Pre employment checks
- Standard transferee process – Local force transferee process will commence and involve full vetting and appropriate HR related checks.
- Advance driver assessment – Officers must be able to attend to demonstrate the potential to pass an advanced driving course within 12 months of joining the Armed Policing Unit. Officers who are only response trained will need to pass this check run prior to offer off employment.
- OHU appointment – Firearms Medical Prior to this appointment, officers will have had to complete a forwarded GP questionnaire and have it signed by their GP. This is likely to incur a charge which will not be paid by BCH.
- Vetting –. Vetting must be in place prior to joining the APU, vetting levels required as MV / SC.
- JFRT – AFO officers will be expected to achieve 7.6 on the bleep test and ARV will be expected to achieve 9.4.
STAGE 4 – Transfer
Those successful will be invited to join the relevant police service. Transferees will be aware of any additional training requirements prior to joining based on their firearms training record review. This training will be conducted by FTC prior to officers being operational.
Please contact Insp 2771 Mann (ian.mann@herts.police.uk) if you have any questions/queries.
Important Information Regarding the Vetting Process
As part of the vetting process, the BCH Vetting Unit may need to contact your current line manager to complete a Supervisor Appraisal. This requirement aligns with the 2025 National Vetting Guidelines (APP 6.5.18).
A Supervisor Appraisal may be necessary in the following situations:
- When applying to transfer to another force
- When renewing existing vetting clearance
- When moving into a role that requires Management Vetting (MV), even if you currently hold MV clearance
- When moving into or working in a role that involves close contact with vulnerable individuals
If any of the above apply to you, please be aware that your current line manager will be contacted for a Supervisor Appraisal once your vetting application is submitted.
Please note: This role has been identified as high-risk in relation to potential DNA and fingerprint contamination within forensic processes. As such, successful candidates will be required to provide a DNA and fingerprint elimination sample as part of their pre-employment checks.
The sample will be used to conduct a speculative search against our database and then solely for contamination elimination purposes and held on a secure elimination database in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR.
Provision of this sample is a condition of employment for roles identified as high-risk.
As you will be transferring to this force, in line with our PSD Biometric Policy, DNA and fingerprint samples will be required during the recruitment process.
