A dedicated armed response vehicle is now on the roads but no extra cash has been pumped into the island’s police force to provide it, the Home Affairs Minister has confirmed.

Jane Poole-Wilson told the House of Keys the provision of the response vehicle ensures there will be a quicker reaction to potentially serious incidents.

She was responding to a question from Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse who asked her what the original budget was for the police's strategy to adopt guns and how much has been spent on guns, ammunition, training and related expenditure.

Mrs Poole-Wilson said: ‘There was a change in the method of operational deployment by the constabulary last year, this change included the provision of an armed response vehicle on patrol, enabling a more immediate response to incidents.

‘It did not, however, involve an uplift in terms of the number of police officers who are trained as authorised fire officers, firearms officers, or require or result in a significant increase in costs regarding guns, vehicles or ammunition.

‘The current model now sees a number of officers undertaking the role on a full-time basis but there hasn't been an uplift in the number of officers overall who are trained as authorised firearms officers.

‘There are also a further cohort of officers who undertake other roles who are available for redeployment.’

However, Mrs Poole-Wilson told members she could not put a figure on the amount spent on armed officers.

She said: ‘The Isle of Man Constabulary budget structure does not readily lend itself to precisely answering this question. Costs that relate to firearms and related expenditure are spread across general pay and training as well as general costs and minor capital replacement.

‘In addition, the constabulary has advised that publication of certain specific information relating to firearms could present a risk regarding capacity and capability that could be exploited by organised crime groups or individuals with malicious intent.

‘However, I can clarify that the constabulary has had firearms capability for a number of decades.

‘But to be very clear, it's an operational deployment change, not a change in the number of officers who are trained or overall in other aspects of supporting that.’

But Mrs Poole-Wilson says due to the size of the force, officers often have a number of roles.

She explained: ‘Our constabulary is unique in that it does operate in a way where many officers do take on multiple duties due to the scale of our police force.

‘However, I think it's important to say that only those trained to be armed response officers would be deployed as such, whether they are now operationally being deployed in a full time basis or ready to be deployed from one of their other roles.

‘And the constabulary has officers specifically trained to support armed officers in the event of any traumatic event. There are also identified processes with specially trained officers to be implemented in the event of any incident which involves a death or serious injury.’