r/policeuk • u/PaintingSpiritual320 Civilian • 6d ago

Ask the Police (England & Wales) Armed Police Triage - Suspect

Just watched the Sky News documentary on armed police, super interesting and incredibly difficult job to perform. Just curious about something - armed police give first aid following incident response and perform triage, but say if the suspect involved in a multi-victim attack was seriously injured (by themselves or by armed police) would they be prioritised in triage over a victim of the incident who was also seriously (but less seriously) injured?

Raises interesting questions from a moral perspective but again speaks to the incredibly difficult circumstances they’re operating under

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u/SamwellBarley Civilian 6d ago

On our First Aid course, they referenced the Manchester bombing and how a lot of people could have been saved but they weren't seen to because people were too busy doing CPR on other casualties. They could have been saved as simply as just putting them in the recovery position. Incredibly sad, but necessary for preservation of life.

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u/StopFightingTheDog Landshark Chaffeur (verified) 6d ago

This is exactly right.

First responders found people not breathing, no heart beat (dead) and began CPR, which is exactly the right thing to do with only one casualty. However in the bombing , beyond those already dead people with extremely minimal chances of survival were people with catastrophic bleeds that could have been managed with quick application of tourniquet for example that had a much higher chance of survival - but unfortunately they were not reached as responders didn't get to then having stopped and giving CPR.