Routinely arming police

with the terrible news of the death of a brave young man, recently married, who’s given his life to keep us safe. Following on from the knife attack on another officer last week and a further officer run over by his own patrol car last week as well during a traffic stop.

My question is, is it now time to routinely arm all police officers? Especially those who are working at night single crewed.

I’m 50/50 on it, but my heart breaks for this guys poor family and his new bride due to go on honeymoon next week.

 

Police in Australia are armed, I'm not particularly keen on the idea, even as a gun owner myself.
What with the body armour, the tasers, the baton, pepper spray they carry they're pretty well armed and in most cases much more heavily armed than the majority of the offenders which they deal with.

 

Yeah, but all ozzies are crims, so they need all that armory.

 

Part of me thinks it's a slippery slope, part of me thinks its inevitable. Can't say its bothered me when I've been in parts of the world where they are armed though. Just accepted that's how they do it. It's sad that the days of the friendly neighbourhood Bobby are gone but that's just how it is.

 

OI !!

 

Always tempting after something like yesterday, but I'd say no. Once you've crossed that line, you can't go back. The average copper has no need of a gun - pepper spray and Tasers, maybe.

Sometimes see what I assume are armed response units on the M27 services, munching their McDonalds. I find the sight of British coppers with guns in holsters...disturbing. I'd prefer to keep it that way.

 

From what I have heard and seen of this sad event if he had been armed with a rocket launcher he still would not have survived being dragged along the A4
I wouldn't like to see every police officer armed but with Eastern European gangs ramping up the racketeering and the constant threat of terrorism I would support the death penalty for terrorists, child killers and cop killers

 

Mores the point what do they do with the perpetrators that do this sort of thing and how do we deter others ?

 

Our policing dynamic is still different to countries with armed police - the States seem only to have athletic Robocop type police whereas we still try to have a community element to ours, who seem to be more rolypoly and lumbered with mental health and social work in their daily duties

Perhaps it should be trialled in inner cities, but they'd have to weed out the old and the tubby, which would further exacerbate the retainment and recruitment problems, that already allow tattoo clad and convicted applicants in.

 

Perhaps it's time for a national police force / national guard, as many other countries have?

 

This is why TLB is great, we can all have a difference of opinion but still get on, I'm totally in favour of our police being armed and for a return of the death penalty

 

I just can’t make my mind up on this one. I don’t particularly want a gun pointed at me cos a copper has pulled me over to tell me my brake lights out. Im also a bit worried that police may be targeted by gangs late at night to steal their firearms.

However I also think if you are asking people to do a tough job like this then they should be given all the protection they need, I live in an area that unfortunately has an awful lot of travellers. They have little to no respect for anyone outside of their community, seemingly above the law in this area. That lack of respect also extends to police officers, who they’ll happily set apron if challenged. Maybe the thought they might get slotted would redress the balance a bit. I don’t know?

 

Why do Police officers have to wear body armour in this country if it’s such a pleasant place to live....... why is it police officers are instructed they ‘should’ wear their body armour at all times whilst on duty (9-12hr shifts) and not ‘must’ ..... Why is it when a Police Officer is given an armoured vest the manufacturers instructions are removed which state it should only be worn for a limited amount of time......... why is it if a Police officer is not wearing their body armour when injured on duty they run the risk of receiving little to no compensation from the Police Force they work for if injured.

Why are Police Officers issued with Pepper Spray in this country if it is such a pleasant place to live when some 20yrs ago they didn’t need to.... why is it if a Police Officer draws their Pepper Spray (not necessarily uses it) do they have to complete numerous ‘use of force forms’ to justify their actions and risk being investigated by professional standards....

Why when a Police Officer stops or interacts with a member of the public who is a different race/religion/gender/sexual orientation/itinerant background does an officer have to feel they have to walk on egg shells for fear of being called institutionally racist/sexist/homophobic/biased (and many other accusations) incase a complaint/allegation is made and passed to ‘professional standards’ for investigation.

Why did police officers get issued with a small wooden truncheon all those years ago.... why did the truncheon change to a side handled baton (American style) in the late 90’s and then to a retractable metal hasp as of today, if this country is such a pleasant place to live....why is it if a Police Officer draws their Hasp (not necessarily uses it) do they have to complete numerous ‘use of force forms’ to justify their actions and risk being investigated by professional standards.... Why is it that a Police Officer is instructed where they can and can not strike a person who is attacking them (when using their Hasp) as if they cause the person attacking them a serious injury they risk losing their job for hitting them in the afore mentioned areas.

Why is it that “not all” Police Officers are issued with tasers..... why is it if a Police Officer draws their Taser (not necessarily uses it) do they have to complete numerous ‘use of force forms’ to justify their actions and risk being investigated by professional standards....

Why are (especially since Theresa May was the Home Secretary) Police Officer numbers who are actually on patrol so low and Officers are now routinely made to patrol single crewed 24hrs a day (meaning back up for one another can be several minutes if not 1/2 an hour or more away) when it would appear it has become accepted by the amount of protective tools given to Police Officers that we now live in a violent country?

Why is it after training a Police Officer to use a gun and issuing it to them do the Command Team of the Police Force that Officer works for instruct them that if they draw the firearm they have to complete a use of force form to justify their actions and should they actually shoot a person they do so alone and run the risk of any civil action from the family of the person shot alone...... why are some Police Forces now struggling to get officers to join firearms units?

Do you think an officer considers any of the above when they stop, try to stop, speak with or interact with a member of the public?

 

Your worries are over Boris Johnson promised loads of extra beat bobbies .oh hang on that was two weeks ago and I think he forgot ,never mind we will have all that extra money for the NHS when we pull out of Europe ,oh hang that was a bare faced lie..

 

I’d say most of those can be summed up by saying we have a totally screwed up criminal justice system in the country weighted in the favour of the offender and not the victim or police officer. If some scumbag threatens a copper or actually attacks a copper then I say the law should heavily weight in the favour of the officer if there is an independent witness.

Stop protecting criminals in this country and start protecting innocent citizens and police officers and things would soon change. Trouble with the authorities in this country is they’ve got no balls. If some @hailfrank gets caught with a knife then bang him up for five years. End of. If he does it again bang him up for ten years. If someone shows they don’t want to live by the perfectly reasonable rules we have in our society then I say remove them from society so we can all happily go about our lives without fear of violence or intimidation.

 

I think the fundamental problem is that nobody wants to pay enough tax to ensure there are enough well paid policemen to keep an eye on things before they get out of hand.
Arming police in the end leads to a mindset on the other side of shoot and kill , as if I get caught they will kill me anyway.

There have always been a load of violent nutters out there. They will kill with or without guns. In the past we would lock them away or transport them or put them in the army and brutalize them imto submission then point them at the locals over seas.
In London, we are seeing what happens as immigrants settle down but bring back in some of our exported violence.

It has always been so, we have better publicity of violence now, but less ability for police to prevent it.

 

And their turf wars from their own countries imported onto our streets.