Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has given an assurance that Scotland will not slip into a situation where police are routinely armed.
He insisted numerous “checks and balances” were built into the system to review all policies surrounding the force.
Growing public concern over officers carrying guns on routine patrols in the Highlands forced him to make a statement to the Scottish Parliament yesterday.
But his comments failed to appease critics, who fear the relationship between the police and public is being irrevocably changed.
They were also unconvinced by Mr MacAskill’s claim the current firearms policy was first introduced in three of the old police forces – including Northern Constabulary – before being rolled out by the new single service.
MSPs heard that 275 officers in the 17,318-strong force are authorised to carry firearms, and because of shift patterns the number on duty at any one time was even smaller.
Mr MacAskill said the public “understands and accepts the need for a small number” of police officers to be authorised to carry firearms and for the chief constable to have operational independence in their use.
“However, I also understand the concern of the public that we do not slip into a situation where officers become armed as a matter of routine practice which would clearly go beyond the operational into matters of policy, and I want to give the parliament and the public my assurance that this will not happen,” he added.
Mr MacAskill said Chief Constable Sir Stephen House had agreed to provide quarterly reports to the Scottish Police Authority and Holyrood’s justice sub-committee on the number of officers deployed on firearms duties.
If the number of armed officers on duty exceeds 2% of the force – it is currently 1.6% – Sir Stephen will notify the SPA and justice secretary.
“There may of course be specific occasions when there is a need to increase numbers on a short-term basis in order to respond to specific risks and threats, and we fully support the chief constable’s operational duty to take immediate decisions that reflect any such threats,” Mr MacAskill said.