New color blindness rules could impact firearms officers across England and Wales

Published on 02 September 2018

Hundreds of firearms officers may have to lay down their weapons because of new rules designed to detect those who have problems with their colour vision.

Supporters of the tougher rules say officers who, for instance, have problems seeing red, may have difficulty using electric stun guns, which uses red dots to help hit the target, as do some firearms.

Critics of the rules say colour vision deficiency makes a negligible, if any, difference to most officers’ ability to do the job. They also warn the loss of experienced armed officers comes at a time when police chiefs and the government want more armed officers to combat a severe terrorist threat.

Via The Guardian