TV Highlight: Behind the scenes with our armed police

Britain’s armed police officers are busier than ever. But how do they make the life-changing, sometimes life-ending decision on when to pull the trigger? And how do they deal with the consequences? This series asks these questions and many more of some of the UK’s most experienced armed officers.

Last year, these men and women carried out more than 16,000 operations in England and Wales—or one every 30 minutes. Every day they face marauding fugitives, organised crime, tense hostage situations or the ever-increasing threat of terror. For the first time, they speak openly about the operations they remember most and decisions they made.

Combining real footage from these missions with news coverage of the aftermath, this series examines high-profile operations, hoping to learn how the officers felt before, during and after they pulled the trigger.

Viewers will learn how police deploy a range of weapons to deal with any scenario, how tactics have been adapted to deal with a changing threat, how negotiation is still at the forefront of most armed operations, and how some of these officers are still haunted by the things they have seen.

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