HOME Secretary Theresa May has opened a new police firearms and specialist public order training facility in Portishead.

The Black Rock Specialist Training Centre will provide training for over 300 firearms officers from Avon and Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Police Force each year.

Home Secretary Theresa May said: “There is a proud tradition in the United Kingdom that police officers do not generally carry firearms as they go about their very important work.

"However, as events in recent weeks have shown, when an operational need arises, specialist armed officers must be available for deployment.

“I want to pay tribute to these highly-trained, brave men and women who frequently put themselves in dangerous situations in order to keep the public safe.

“I am delighted to open this training facility today. It will help maintain the very high standards that we expect of our firearms officers and equip them with the skills they need to protect the communities they serve.

“This is another example of how good police forces are collaborating with one another to make savings, pool resources and deliver more efficient local policing.”

The creation of the training centre is part of the wider Tri Force collaboration to improve resilience between force boundaries and will include a tactics enclosure, two judgemental suites and 100m and 50m firing ranges all linked by CCTV to enable one scenario played out in different locations as well as operating independently.

Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens said: “It’s fantastic to finally be able to officially open this state-of-the-art training facility needed now more than ever.

"It has been a long journey not without its difficulties, however today demonstrates our commitment to work closely with our neighbouring police forces of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire and our duty to keep our communities safe by providing specialist policing resources which are borderless, modern and better value for money.

"Today marks an exciting chapter in the Tri-force collaboration and I would like to thank the Home Secretary for officially opening Black Rock and my fellow Police and Crime Commissioner’s on their commitment to work together to serve the best interests of our communities.”