John Hill

Dear Madam Coroner Re: Regulation 28 Inquest touching the death of John Edward Hill am now in a position to send you a further response with regards to your regulation 28 recommendations which you raised at the inquest of John Edward Hill: i) When the Police consider a firearm application, there may be valuable information that those close to the applicant may have, in circumstances where there is no domestic abuse or violence. Those with the applicant may have vital information, which could impact upon the of a firearms certificate. This information may therefore be key to preventing a future death. ii) In view of this would request that consideration is given to reviewing the national and local guidance in relation to the assessment criteria and enquiries to be considered regarding applications for firearms certificates, and for consideration to be given that those enquiries involve the applicant's family members, or at the very least those living with the applicant: can reassure you that our firearms licensing team in Dorset Police which in fact is a Strategic Alliance capability across the three counties of Dorset; Protective Marking Status 2 living grant

Devon and Cornwall D&C have fully considered your directions and have reviewed local guidance which follows current national guidance. am now in receipt of a very detailed and comprehensive report which unfortunately am not yet satisfied meets our obligations to respond appropriately to your directions. This is in no way due to any resistance from my teams or indeed those that govern policy and practice nationally: However, have called for further work ahead of the submission of a final report: The firearms licensing manager , has taken this case study and your recommendations for discussion at national level with the NPCC lead, ACC Orford on Tuesday 11th September, hence our prior need for an extension. The minutes of this meeting are not yet signed off but have seen the draft minutes and that the specific recommendations were raised at my request: The consensus of the national group was that an arbitrary policy of consultation with wider family members on application and renewal of a firearms license, was not appropriate, given that one could not draw lines of delineation as to far such enquiries should reach; the depth and nature of the questions and the lack of proportionality involved. The group did consider however that the new Firearms Enquiry Officer accreditation standards focus much more on being professionally curious, and are much more inquisitorial in approach: It was commented on by the group that in some cases, work colleagues would know individuals better than their families might know them where would one draw the line? The NPCC Lead, ACC Orford is of the view that we cannot have a mandated series of steps but rather address each applicant on its merits and employing the new professional curiosity, in line with the new College of Policing standards_ The new standards, subject to ratification at the Serious and Organised Crime Board chaired by are to go live on the gth October 2018. These standards will run alongside current authorised professional practice and Home Office Guidance for Firearms Licensing Law 2016. Therefore , feel we have only partially fulfilled our obligations under your direction and suspect that you will be unhappy with this outcome. would ask that you allow my ACC who is my Director of Operations DDIMMAY Protective Marking Status

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to meet with you and discuss some of the finer detail and challenges posed, so that we are able, to fully deliver the full extent of your directions apologise for the length of time this has taken whilst my senior managers have waded through national governance, please be assured that fully concur with your directions which are capable of preventing future deaths at scale in England and Wales:

Dear Mr Allen, Thank you for the opportunity to discuss, in a little more depth; the possible ways we can learn important lessons from the tragic death of John Hill. was grateful for your understanding of the complexities surrounding guidance that can be issued to Firearms Enquiry Officers in terms of the steps might want to undertake in order to make recommendations to Chief Constable under Section 27 of the Firearms Act 1968. That section has a paragraph that feel is very relevant to your section 28 notice_ (c) that in all the circumstances the applicant can be permitted to have the firearm or ammunition in his possession without danger to the public safety or to the peace. In determining what might constitute "all circumstances" outlined how | expect Firearms Enquiry Officers (FEO) to carry out diligent enquiries with appropriate professional curiosity during their home visits and interactions with applicants for a firearms certificate Because of the very diverse nature of applicant situations it is very challenging to give prescribed series of steps that must be carried out in each case, over and above existing intelligence convictions and medical checks. We discussed how there are situations where this could give a false perception that an applicant could be suitable were further investigations not carried out by the FEO. As outlined , have been informed that the Home Office are preparing to go to public consultation on their guidance to forces on issuing firearms certificates later this year, and will endeavour to include the lessons learned from Mr Hill's death. In particular, for FEO's to ensure DURHAM CONSTABULARY IN AN EMERGENCY facebook WWW: durham police.uk Lwieler n01 CAWAYS9 Palicing Your they key Abour Disabl

that examine the domestic and family circumstances of an applicant should this appear to be relevant under Section 27 of the Firearms Act 1968. Thank you again for taking the time to discuss this in more detail, and if you wish to be involved in the future consultation please let me know.