West Midlands Police 'tweet pictures of gun squad cars' from Twitter account

The top-of-the-range cars, which are manned by officers carrying Glock 17 pistols and feature Heckler & Koch assault rifles in an on-board gun safe, have been shared on the Twitter feed of a police vehicle enthusiast.

One picture was subsequently retweeted by an official West Midlands Police Twitter account. The number plates of the vehicles were partly obscured, although the make, model and colour is clearly visible.

Chief Constable David Thompson has backed his officers' judgement over the retweet of the picture.

However, West Midlands MEP Bill Etheridge has questioned the wisdom of 'showing off' police vehicles deployed to respond to incidents including terrorist threats and riots.

"I find it absurd that in a time when as a country we are facing so many threats to our security that publishing pictures of these vehicles is considered to be acceptable," he said. "The last thing we should be doing is handing open goals to criminals, and God forbid, terrorists.

"It is bad enough for the pictures to be out there in the first place, but for the police to be retweeting them is irresponsible.

"The police need to take action to get these pictures removed immediately before a crucial operation is put under threat."

The Express & Star has seen the photographs, but has chosen not to publish them so as not to reveal the identities of the cars. The name of the Twitter user has also been withheld.

Mr Thompson told the Express & Star: "

I think it is really helpful when people delete registration plates from the pictures, but we can't stop them from taking pictures and putting them out.

"It is not something we widely encourage but I think if the registration plate is deleted then that is probably why the picture has been retweeted."

He added: "We wouldn't want to tweet the entire fleet, but as the registration number is disguised I don't think the officers are concerned about retweeting the pictures.

"I kind of trust their judgment."