Thames Valley Police Federation has welcomed results of a poll which shows the vast majority of rank and file officers are against carrying guns.

There has been an increase of just one per cent in the number of officers nationally who want to be routinely armed, despite an increase in gun crime putting officers' lives at threat. The last survey was carried out eight years ago.

The Police Federation carried out the research after Home Office figures showed gun crime rocketed by a third in 2002, including a rise of 46 per cent in the use of handguns.

Pc Dino Imbimbo, Thames Valley Police Federation secretary, said: "It shows the traditional view that we police by consent still stands, and also reflects the steps that have been taken to improve officer safety, such as body armour, CS spray and batons."

He said officers were trained to assess risk before going into a situation which might be more safely dealt with by armed officers.

But he added: "You are never going to get away from the potential to walk into trouble."

The report showed 78 per cent did not want to carry guns on everyday duties, compared with 79 per cent in 1995.

It also revealed 47 per cent of front-line officers in England and Wales backed mandatory wearing of body armour and eight out of 10 said more officers should be trained to use firearms.

Nearly half of the 13,000 officers who responded to the survey said their lives had been put in serious danger by a member of the public in the last two years.

Three out of 10 had been threatened with a knife at least once in the same period and four out of 20 had been threatened with another type of weapon.

However, only 7.4 per cent had been threatened with a gun. The number of armed officers has fallen by more than 800 in the last five years nationally.