Arrest for the Possession of an Imitation Firearm.

Date published: 28/09/2004

A 17-year-old boy was arrested on Sunday 26 September and cautioned after he was seen by a police officer brandishing an imitation firearm.

At 1.15pm an officer was patrolling the Castleton area and saw a boy walking along Moor Park Avenue with what he thought was a machine gun. After observing the local boy for a short while, the officer, determined that it was an imitation firearm, arrested him.

The boy was then taken to a local police station where he was released with a caution. His details will now lie on police files for ten years.

Chief Inspector John Martin from Rochdale said, "Although it is not illegal to buy or sell an imitation gun, under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 it is illegal to possess an imitation firearm or BB-gun in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse."

With or without a reasonable excuse, there is a surprising 75% of incidents that GMP's Armed Response Unit are called out to, that all turn out to be young people with imitation guns. Not only do these call outs cost thousands of pounds and are a vast drain on police resources, but they are also extremely dangerous for the individual in possession of such a weapon. It is very difficult, even to the trained eye, to decide whether the gun is real or not and an armed officer only has a split second to make that decision.

Chief Inspector John Martin also said, "Imitation guns cause unnecessary fear amongst local residents in the community, and we are raising awareness of the dangers to encourage individuals not to carry or use these weapons in public places. We also want to urge retailers to think about the consequences of selling toy guns to youngsters and the impact that they have on local communities."