Soaring gun crime has rocked Bermuda but are Police able to handle it and what are the rules if they get caught in a fire fight?

According to Police sources, unless threatened by lethal force officers can't fire while they must only match the level of threat, not escalate it.

Rising shootings sparked former Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith to call for officers to be routinely armed earlier this year.

Police have resisted that call but have not divulged how many officers are now attached to specialist weapons unit the Emergency Response Team.

The Royal Gazette has been told that it trains two days every month on firearms and tactics and sends officers to the UK for manoeuvres with the Metropolitan Police's tactical team.

Bermuda Police use the Met's specialised training centre in Gravesend, Kent which has several firing ranges plus various buildings and scenarios to practice on.

Bermuda Police also train with Police at a centre in South Wales. Routines included training with armed response vehicles, learning about how to handle vehicle stops, and cordoning and entering houses.

The primary weapon used by Bermuda's armed officers is the German-designed Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine-gun used by the armed forces and law enforcement units in more than 40 countries.

Bermuda Police also have the M4 carbine rifle which has selective fire options including semi-automatic and a three-round burst.

The weapon, best for combat over distances not greater than 100 yards, is the preferred weapon of the US Army Special Forces and Navy SEALs. Armed Bermuda Police also carry Glock 17 pistols.

Bermuda Police follow UK Police guidelines, drawn up the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), which allow Police to fire weapons after traditional methods have been tried and failed or deemed unlikely to succeed if tried.

Police should not normally fire warning shots because of the risk of causing unintentional death or injury and misleading a suspect or other officer to believe they are being shot at.

The ultimate responsibility for firing a weapon rests with the individual officer, who is answerable to court. Officers are accountable for all rounds they fire and must be in a position to justify them later.

Armed officers must identify themselves as such and shall give a clear warning of their intent to use firearms, with sufficient time for the warnings to be observed, unless "to do so would unduly place any person at a risk of death or serious harm, or it would be clearly inappropriate or pointless in the circumstances of the incident", according to the ACPO rules.

If a Police officer believes it's necessary to open fire on a subject, using conventional ammunition, they must shoot to stop an imminent threat to life.

The guidelines add that research has shown that only shots hitting the central nervous system (largely located in the central body mass) are likely to be effective in achieving rapid incapacitation. Shots which strike other parts of the body cannot be depended upon to achieve this.

Police officers are trained to fire at the largest part of the target they can see which in most cases will be the central body mass. It's also much easier to hit amid the stress of a gun battle.

When firing baton rounds, dubbed less lethal rather than non-lethal, Police are trained to fire at the lower half of a suspect's body.

Bermuda Police are also equipped with Captor spray, a potent version of pepper spray that creates excruciating pain and involuntary eye-closing and the asp which resembles a big heavy pipe.

However Bermuda Police are now pushing for Tasers, an electroshock weapon that uses electrical current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles, used by Police elsewhere.

Police here believe five seconds of being blitzed with a Taser will likely cause less damage to a criminal than being hit with the asp. The Taser fires two small dart-like electrodes, which stay connected to the main pistol-like projector, over a maximum distance of 35 feet. However they have proved controversial with human rights group Amnesty International documenting over 245 deaths after the use of Tasers.