How do police in England do their jobs without guns and a body count?

reply to post by Silicis n Volvo

I was 'unsettled' in my teens and 20s and had quite a lot of interactions with the police. Out of dozens of incidents, only 3-4 officers were less than respectful and one of them was corrupt. At the time, it was clear that police respond well to respect in the same way you and I do. Some guy acts like an asshole with the police and they'll be the bigger asshole - not always.

Now I'm all grown up and lawful, work often leads to interactions with the police or clients are involved with the criminal justice system so I still know what goes on. I don't hear or see many negative things about the police.

I'm only saying these things to sorta validate my view that English police officers aren't a bad bunch. My impression of US police officers isn't as positive due to over-exposure to all these horror videos some members keep posting. Some nasty stuff out there! We need to remind ourselves that the US has roughly 700000 officers and the videos aren't being posted that show all the non-beatings and arresting genuine, dangerous criminals.

reply to post by abe froman


Because shooting and killing a suspect before talking to them historically hasn't gone down well and generally pisses people off.

Here in spain even trafic cops carry guns, i belive it was for ETA reasons, yet there are very few homicides less death by cops.

I know you people dont like this as an excuse but its simply a diferent culture, back in Venezuela i was pretty calm and normal, here i look like ares always looking for a fight, im the same the people arround me is what changed, spaniards are just diferent. I presume is the same on England or Canada which is more similar to US regarding guns

reply to post by abe froman


You sound like the officer from the movie "Paul".

reply to post by Kandinsky



Police in the UK do their jobs badly too, no need for guns, when you can use sticks to kill people. Not to mention plastic bullets et al.

en.wikipedia.org...

In America I would guess that every cop approaches a suspect with the thought in the back of his mind that any time this dude could pull a gun on me.

In the uk the worst is going to be a knife

I think thats what it comes down to, cops in America get itchy trigger figures and in the UK its guns are just such a non-issue for every day policing.

reply to post by abe froman


Youre comparing Harry Potter to Lord of The Rings here. Not a level playing field. Whole different ball game, I think.

TheForced
reply to post by abe froman

 

Because shooting and killing a suspect before talking to them historically hasn't gone down well and generally pisses people off.

Exactly....there's no way the public would ALLOW the police to all carry firearms.

OtherSideOfTheCoin
In America I would guess that every cop approaches a suspect with the thought in the back of his mind that any time this dude could pull a gun on me.

In the uk the worst is going to be a knife

I think thats what it comes down to, cops in America get itchy trigger figures and in the UK its guns are just such a non-issue for every day policing.

Exactly....everyone is a potential suspect, everyone is potentially carrying and will shoot them.
In the UK, NOBODY is carrying and most criminals may be dodgy but they're very unlikely to pull a weapon on police.


2 entirely different worlds.

Thank god...

For comparison purposes, here is my diary entry of an encounter I had with the police when I was a 20-year old student.
Admittedly this was not very recent.

As I was going home along the Cowley Road [at half past two in the morning, following a party], a police-car on the other side of the street went off, went round Magdalen roundabout, and came after me. The occupant got out and called me over, addressing me as “pal”. He asked me what my name was, where I had come from. He said he was looking for an eighteen-year old boy called Joseph Merrill and asked me if I had seen him. He asked also where I worked and how old I was, and finished by enjoining me to “give him a shout” if I saw the said Joseph. I pointed out that I didn’t know what the boy looked like ( and perhaps I should have asked him how to go about “giving him a shout”). He said the boy was middle height, “like yourself”, eighteen years old, etc., and let me go. If he was really looking for the boy, the later questions seemed to have little point unless he thought I might be him, in which case I was surprised that he didn’t want further identification before I went on my way. The other possibility, which only occurred to me later, was that the boy was non-existent, just an excuse to stop me, which would make the whole conversation much more intelligible.

reply to post by abe froman


It seems as though the USA is a more dangerous place and in that case the police seem to do more outrageous crap also. It's very rare police pull there guns out in Australia unless the circumstances are high risk but when I think of the USA, a lot more idiots running around and the police may have a little paranoia when approaching citizen's especially with a country armed to the teeth with guns themselves.

blupblup



Exactly....there's no way the public would ALLOW the police to all carry firearms.

The police have all the powers if they wanted to actually arm every officer but most of the force don't want it and a lot do fear it would start an arms race and no one wants anymore trouble than already is going around even the criminals as the slightest mention of a gun in an area and theres armed police everywhere cutting into their business plus its a mandatory 5 years minimum for owning an unlicensed gun and point it at a copper and you'll probably get 10+ years

in America you get 10 + years in the hole next to bubba for theft of a vehicle people tend to fight back

steal a car in England and you get 50 hours community service free food while awating trial

no point in rocking the boat

The criminals in England are table doilies compared to the criminals in the US. You're darn right, you had better go out anywhere in the US with your eyes, ears, and all senses wide open. I saw a documentary that the FBI has no idea how many serial killers travel the freeways seeking their prey, but it is a lot.

reply to post by abe froman


It's because we don't all think we're living in a movie.

MOMof3
The criminals in England are table doilies compared to the criminals in the US. You're darn right, you had better go out anywhere in the US with your eyes, ears, and all senses wide open. I saw a documentary that the FBI has no idea how many serial killers travel the freeways seeking their prey, but it is a lot.

If you're interested in seeing criminals here, check out hood life volumes 1-3 on YouTube. You're more likely to find 3 though. You'll find the video is mostly fear, but that's only if you're wandering in the wrong neighborhood. Or you just happen to be very unlucky...

Also, I'm interested in watching this documentary.

I would say it would be because fighting is something some LIKE to do,Britain doesn't have as many people as we do and are not as aggressive as we are.
They also don't function in chaos as well. Their skill and bravery are as we,but more disciplined and polite,Americans will try wild things to achieve any goal. When someone from a culture like ours goes bad a firearm IS necessary to stop them far more often than in the UK.

reply to post by DISRAELI




Cowley Road?? In Oxford?

Cool

reply to post by blupblup

Exactly....there's no way the public would ALLOW the police to all carry firearms.

I actually dont know how opposed to this i would be,

and i know its not the same thing, but in Northern Ireland all police officers are armed.

Maxatoria
The police have all the powers if they wanted to actually arm every officer but most of the force don't want it and a lot do fear it would start an arms race and no one wants anymore trouble than already is going around even the criminals as the slightest mention of a gun in an area and theres armed police everywhere cutting into their business plus its a mandatory 5 years minimum for owning an unlicensed gun and point it at a copper and you'll probably get 10+ years

Well exactly, The police don't want it and nor do the public.
I think even if the police did want it, the public would go mad if they tried to do it.

It's not needed nor wanted and the UK is as far from the US in terms of policing as you can possibly get and long may that continue.

OtherSideOfTheCoin

and i know its not the same thing, but in Northern Ireland all police officers are armed.

Indeed...and you know why? Because violence breeds violence.
I hope that never in my lifetime will we see an entirely armed police force.