The focus of Richard's latest meeting with Bedfordshire Police Chief Constable was again the poor record for processing firearms licenses, with unacceptably long delays in either obtaining a new license or a license renewal.
Richard Fuller MP said:
As you will know from my previous posts on this issue, these delays can have a profound impact on farmers, local marksmen as well as young people wanting to take up shooting as a sport.
To be fair to our Chief Constable, he is both open about the shortcomings and eager to clear the backlog. Bedfordshire Police are spearheading national efforts to find useful applications of AI to make policing processes more efficient. The Chief Constable took me through some examples and the impacts are impressive.
There is an opportunity to use the same capabilities to speed up gun license assessments. So what's the problem? Well, gun license assessments are a shared process with Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire police. My sense is that our Chief Constable is in the position of a "frustrated pioneer": he sees the potential but has others to persuade.
He and I will meet again before Christmas and - if needed- March next year - to check in on his progress in clearing the backlog and shortening new application times.
You can read more about the delays with Firearms Licensing at https://www.richardfuller.co.uk/campaigns/firearms-licensing
