Alternative to life hammer for window entry during armed operations
Jermaine Baker Inquiry · Report into the Death of Jermaine Baker · Issued 5 July 2022 · Addressed to: Home Office, National Police Chiefs Council, Metropolitan Police Service
Government responseMetropolitan Police Service: Noted (Oct 2022)
DeliveryNo statement from Metropolitan Police Service found
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, 15.26
Consideration should be given by the MPS, Home Office and the NPCC to finding a more suitable solution for smashing windows during the course of an armed operation, so that an officer who is holding a firearm does not need to take their hand off their main weapon to utilise a life hammer.
Jermaine Baker Inquiry, Report into the Death of Jermaine Baker · 5 Jul 2022 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
The Metropolitan Police Service stated in October 2022 that its firearms officers no longer use glass hammers during armed operations, having issued officers with extendable X-ball devices for short-range use and teams with longer devices operated at a distance, enabling officers closer to the vehicle to maintain firearms cover without removing their hands from their weapons (Metropolitan Police Service response, Oct 2022). The record holds no update since the Metropolitan Police Service's response of October 2022 (Metropolitan Police Service response, Oct 2022).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.
Government response
●Metropolitan Police Service · Noted · 28 Oct 2022
MPS firearms no longer use a glass hammer to smash windows in the course of an armed operation. Following an internal review and resourcing exercise, each firearms officer has now been issued with an extendable X-ball device, which can be used more easily with one hand at short ranges. Each firearms team has also been issued with a longer device that can be used by a team member at a distance, enabling officers closer to the vehicle to maintain firearms cover in the usual way, without removing their hands from their weapons.
Response document: Public Inquiry into the Death of Jermaine Baker: Update on Recommendations
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Metropolitan Police Service has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.
How this page is built
The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.