Firearms Licencing

[froggy]

Forum members and all

 

After joining in on an earlier thread started by Stacka titled “Firearms Licencing Fees” I stated that my application had also been sent in for renewal with Dyfed Powys Police. I have co terminus licences for both FAC and SGC that were due to expire on 13^th August 2015.

 

I sent in my application to the licencing department on 3^rd June and sat back and waited. On previous renewals I had noticed that my cheque was always cashed immediately, but after 2 weeks this still had not been done, so a quick telephone call was made and I confirmed that my application had arrived safely and was in the pile waiting, I said no more.

 

I kept an eye on my bank account and still no cheque cashed or FLO visit booked.

 

On 30^th July I contacted the Firearms Department again, stating that I needed the use of my rifles and was concerned that my application would not be processed in time, but was surprised to be told that my application had been approved, signed and was posted yesterday and should be with me tomorrow. I was even more surprised when in fact this actually happened. This process did in fact take exactly 8 weeks door to door.

 

So my current situation is co terminus FAC and SGC renewed successfully, with no FLO visit deemed necessary as my application was a straight forward renewal with no changes. However an accompanying letter stated that.

 

“Within 8 weeks of the receipt of your new certificate you will be visited by your Local Neighbourhood Police Officer who will conduct a follow up enquiry with a view to confirming that everything is in order. This will also allow you the opportunity to address any questions you may have regarding the continued possession of your shotgun licence”

 

Not a typo, it just said shotgun.

 

So I guess now that a local PCSO with possibly no knowledge of firearms is at some point going to rock up and have a chat.

Whatever!!!!!!!!!

 

Oh yeah, and the cheque has still not been cashed.

I’ll keep you posted.

 

froggy

[Shuggy]

Loads of people are having the same issue at the moment because many coterminous dates are up Jul-Aug this year. Despite putting my renewal in back in April, my tickets were still a couple of weeks late for my early July date, requiring me to put everything into storage at the local RFD. Having said that, Wiltshire were very nice as always, apologising profusely and explaining that they were short-staffed due to a number of retirements. I don't think that Dyfed has such a good reputation though!

[Gundoc]

So what sort of specialist knowledge is possessed by a PCSO that allows them to answer questions on firearms law? the majority of actual constables have zero knowledge!

cost cutting by the Firearms dept maybe?

[Scotch_egg]

 

 

Within 8 weeks of the receipt of your new certificate you will be visited by your Local Neighbourhood Police Officer who will conduct a follow up enquiry with a view to confirming that everything is in order. This will also allow you the opportunity to address any questions you may have regarding the continued possession of your shotgun licence

 

 

 

It clearly states Neighbourhood Police Officer. No mention of a Police Community Support Officer.

[froggy]

Taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia today

 

Neighbourhood Policing Team

 

"Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPT) sometimes called Safer Neighbourhood Teams is a concept developed by the United Kingdom police. It involves small teams of police officers (usually 10-15 strong) who are dedicated to policing a certain community or area.

 

There are 3,600 NPTs throughout the United Kingdom.

Role

 

This type of policing is designed to make the police more visible, reduce fear and aid interaction between the public and the police, and it aids in local knowledge, gaining intelligence and tip-offs from the public.

NPTs are led by a police officer, usually of sergeant/Inspector rank, and may include Police Community Support Officers, special constables, local council staff and members of voluntary organisations, such as a neighbourhood watch.

Usually NPTs are responsible for patrolling an area of around 4 square miles (10 km2) of urban area or around 10 square miles (26 km2) of rural area."

 

 

Please don’t get me wrong, I have my licences and they were issued within the advertised time scale. Also I am not anti-plod; I work with them on a regular basis and think they do a difficult job with limited resources.

In my case I don’t think I have anything to worry about, but what does concern me is that someone could turn up “with a view to confirming everything is in order” and possibly not have a clue about the Firearms Act, or what they are looking at.

 

I’ll keep you posted as to who does turn up and what knowledge they have. I'll do it over a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake.

 

Cheers

froggy

[Rob1562]

Hi Froggy...

 

one of the reasons your force will use PCSO's/NPT's is that in theory they have "local knowledge" that may not necessarily be recorded on any intelligence system that regular officers could access. Its unlikely they have any specialist firearms knowledge ,neither would a regular officer attending, they will only check serial numbers and the quality of your security, they rely upon the FLO/FLM to have the specialist knowledge.

 

I'm sure you have absolutely nothing to worry about and tea and cake will oil the cogs !

 

Regards Rob.

[garyw]

they cant just turn up-for one you have to be in and that is at your conveniance .

[mole-e30]

I just had my coterminous certs renewed by Northumbria Police.

 

I called them to explain that I would be away at renewal time and they said no problem, you can do it up to 6 months early.

 

I did it right away and I had the whole process done and new certs back on my door mat within 8 DAYS!!!!

 

They called me to ask if they could do my interview over the phone as they were doing "Risk Assessed Interviews" and explained that they had deemed me as low risk, therefore I qualified for an over the phone one "if I wished", I accepted this and they asked me some questions, a bit like Telephone banking security ones.

 

A great service and made the whole think much simpler.

 

Their reason for this over the phone idea was to save time and cost at their end and to make the process easier and less intrusive for those that they deemed as low risk. It certainly gets my vote as I dint need to waste a day's holiday from work and have to arrange it at short notice.

 

I asked what the criteria were for being "Low Risk" was and they said some of the following, length of time having a SGC or FAC, no significant recent run-ins with the law, no significant requests for increases in number of items on the FAC (a few was fine) and not living in a crime hot-spot.

 

All credit to Northumbria Police and they explained that it was my choice to participate or not, they explained it was similar to getting offered speed awareness if you are a naughty boy on the road, only happens if you are not too naughty........

 

Just my experience and it was an incredibly good one.........

 

There was no mention of sending someone to check up on me later, quite the opposite.

 

Cheers

 

Bruce

[David Hancock]

Shuggy - ?? Why did you not receive a Section 7 permit which allows you to keep everything except expanding ammunition - which I had to surrender to my RFD for storage at a cost so no foxing during this time - and use my Shotgun and Centrefire with solid ammo

 

I then had to have a home interview despite having had a ticket for over 15 years - which is the MO being adopted by Essex apparently - how often I shoot, club I belong to, people I shoot with, why I do not have a permission closer to me !!!!!, how often I shoot shotgun etc, etc.

 

I then had my slot for FAC air removed as I have not fulfilled the slot. Not offered another calibre or option to increase holding.

 

I received my ticket eight weeks past the expiry date and it has just been returned to change mistakes. In fairness Essex are short staffed and have always been very courteous but the communication and process was greatly helped by the BASC Firearms Team - thank you.

[Shuggy]

Yes, I could have asked for a Section 7 permit, but to be honest I let the date sneak up on me. In the end it was my choice to put them in the RFD. Nice as the Wiltshire Firearms team are, I had no wish to risk being in illegal posession. To Wiltshire's credit, once they had heard that my guns were at the RFD, they said that they would 'bump me to the top of the list'. The FLO then brought my tickets round at 8 o'clock in the evening. A quick look at my blackpowder storage arrangements and a new cabinet, a quick friendly chat and he was on his way. Can't really fault them for the service.

[Strangely Brown]

I've always had good service from Wiltshire, in fact my ticket went in for renewal on the 21st July and it expires on the 27th September.

 

It'll be interesting to see if they get in there in time!