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Why aren't police officers in U.K. armed?
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| razmataz |
I think it is absurd not to have armed law enforement officers. Some may argue that having weapons may induce personally (or racially) motivated killings but I think you can overcome that with rigid recruitment and training programs.
What good is it for me to call the police if I am being robbed at gunpoint?
I am saying this because there was another high-profile killing of a police officer recently. Even though 3 officers were at the scene of the crime apprehending one suspect he got away because he had a gun (and killed one of the cops in the process, badly injuring another). |
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| St_Andrew |
| hmmm seems a bit strange to me but i think they reason like "if the criminal knows that the police don't have a gun, then they won't shoot them cause then they know the police don't consitute a threat.." |
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| imokruok |
| I think at some point, that policy will have to change. Since the strict gun bans in Britain have gone into effect, gun violence has surged. Criminals know that both the cops and the civilians are likely to not be armed. Thus if the criminals can get guns into Britain - not a hard proposition - they can have free reign. |
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| Streakfury |
Personally, I think it's ridiculous. UK police officers should be armed, or at least have arms quickly and readily available to them.
A couple of years back, a situation arose in a town near to where I live where a guy had stabbed another guy (for no particular reason, it turns out) and killed him. He then walked back to his house where the cops turned up and surrounded the house.
None of them were wearing any kind of body armour/protection and it was their job to try and arrest an obviously dangerous man. They all stood around doing nothing, because they were all scared that if they attempted to arrest him, they'd get killed (which they probably would have). And all because the appropriate firearms and body protection isn't available.
If I ran the country, the police would be given a lot more power than what they have now.
:) |
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| arctic |
That's stupid to be honest.
We have really tight gun control laws down here, amd thankfully every police officer is armed with a handgun (And a batton/capsicum spray) at all times when on patrol.
People are even makng a fuss because they carry older guns, which apparently gives criminals an 'edge'. I can't imagine what it would be like to be completely unarmed. :conf: |
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| Dj O'Callaghan |
Living in the UK this cocerns me, the police should be armed in UK, like there has been so many situations when police have arrived at crime scenes to have someone with a powerfull automatic weapon spraying rounds at them. They need to carry not only decent handguns, but to each squad car aswell an S.M.G like a Heckler & Koch MP5 and a pump action shotgun of some kind incase the face some heavy fire power.
British Police are in the ing dark ages. You can't just chase someone with a stick anymore, the criminals here are better armed then most S.W.A.T teams these days. The Government don't have a clue at all how many people have to die untill they change laws.
For those who are against British cops being armed put yourselves into this scenario imagine being an officer called out to an armed robbery, the S.W.A.T teams and armed officers are on their way but their going to be 5 minutes and your the first unit there, there is 4 robbers all are career criminals all are heavily armed. Now as an officer your supposed to stop these guys and contain them in the bank untill the armed officers arrive but what can you do with no guns? charge them with nightsticks and ing CS gas, in that situation being a normal British officer you could do nothing you'd have to let them go and then you follow them in the car but then what happens when they go off? officers have to ambush them which could potentially lead to a gun battle in a busy street and loss of innocent life.
So Blair & Blunkett ing arm them. |
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| Yoepus |
obviously the cops not having guns is not working in the UK, more drastic meassures should be taken to ensure the criminals have no fear of the police.
I propose a radical resolution based on the Abercrombie and Fitch line of thought that will solve this problem: all UK cops should be naked.
This would surely demonstrate to criminals that the police are no threat to them, and that they should surrender to them because they are umm... sexy? |
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| ahlamalek |
| doesn't the UK have one of the lowest per capita gun murder in the world? |
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| razmataz |
| quote: | Originally posted by ahlamalek
doesn't the UK have one of the lowest per capita gun murder in the world? |
Maybe so - but i just moved here from Canada, another low gun crime country, and i feel much less safer all of a sudden knowing that police dont have guns...
ps: Tabloids were screaming yesterday that the suspect is of Middle Eastern origin. Today they named a Mr. Nathan Coleman from Floria as prime suspect. ing tabloids. |
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| tubby |
let's take the argument one step further then, should private security guards be armed? We seem to be getting more and more robberies now where the prize is the guns of the security guards. The guards aren't likley to want to get into a shootout and risk their lives, so the guns are not that much of a deterrent.
If police are called to a scene where they know the suspect is armed, how likley are they to burst in with guns blazing? they will generally move more slowly and carefully, so the extra time for an armed squad to arrive will be less significant. I personally wish our police were not armed, buit then oz does have more of a gun culture than britain, although no-where near that of the u.s. |
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| Nadi |
| quote: | Originally posted by tubby
let's take the argument one step further then, should private security guards be armed? We seem to be getting more and more robberies now where the prize is the guns of the security guards. The guards aren't likley to want to get into a shootout and risk their lives, so the guns are not that much of a deterrent.
If police are called to a scene where they know the suspect is armed, how likley are they to burst in with guns blazing? they will generally move more slowly and carefully, so the extra time for an armed squad to arrive will be less significant. I personally wish our police were not armed, buit then oz does have more of a gun culture than britain, although no-where near that of the u.s. |
In the states a lot of "mall cops" do have guns, though the ones who do almost all of them only have rubber bullets or pellets. When I went to Israel earlier this summer many security guards even had some sort of semi automatic gun. |
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| Yoepus |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nadi
In the states a lot of "mall cops" do have guns, though the ones who do almost all of them only have rubber bullets or pellets. When I went to Israel earlier this summer many security guards even had some sort of semi automatic gun. |
the better to shoot terrorist with :D |
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