A POLICE watchdog chairman says there is an urgent need for the Government to consider arming officers, after the Boxing Day shooting of West Yorkshire traffic patrolman Ian Broadhurst.

Coun Ken Walker, chairman of the Cleveland Police Authority, says police in the UK daily face criminals with easy access to guns 'and no qualms about using them.'

He said: "The fact is that Ian Broadhurst was not a member of the National Crime Squad, the Anti-Terrorist Squad or the Special Branch, but a traffic patrol officer simply carry out the regular job of checking on a stolen car.

"It is a sad fact that such an ordinary task ended up with such a tragic result."

He said it must require everyone involved with the police service - the Home Secretary, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Police Federation and indeed the public - to consider whether there is a case for changing current policies on arming officers.

But Coun Walker's own chief constable, head of Cleveland Police Sean Price, disagrees with him.

Mr Price said: "When it comes to the question of routine and general arming of police officers, I believe we must put our trust in the opinion of front-line officers.

"Police in these roles have been balloted on a number of occasions, most recently last year, and have consistently come out against being armed.

"Part of their concern is that routinely arming all officers would fundamentally and irrevocably change the style of policing in England and Wales."

But the chief constable said the number and availability of officers who should be armed would be examined in consultation with the staff associations and police authority.