seeing in these walls

In September 2009, I was granted access to a Metropolitan Police specialist firearms training centre in Kent. The site was once used for terrorist training but now operates as a controlled environment for crowd control and security exercises with two purpose built mock towns and multiple indoor firing ranges.

Officers trained here have gone on to be involved in high-profile incidents, including the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell station and the death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests in London.

The environments are designed to simulate real situations - repetitive drills, constructed facades, and physical routines intended to build instinct and muscle memory, so that responses on the street become automatic.

What struck me though was the distance between these controlled simulations and the reality they are meant to prepare for. The unpredictability, emotion, and tension of real events felt largely absent, replaced by something more staged, more contained.

Captured on 6×7 medium format film.