Christmas shoppers and children terrified by armed police on streets with machine guns

What???

Have you done your homework on since when the UK police have been armed?

OK, it is Wikipedia (you can find other sources on the net if you need them) but here is a little snippet :

In relation to specialist firearms officers, in the year 2011–12, there were 6,756 Authorised Firearms Officers, 12,550 police operations in which firearms were authorised throughout England and Wales and 5 incidents where conventional firearms were used.

Link here : en.wikipedia.org...

Police in Britain fired their guns just seven times in the last year :

Fatal shootings by police officers have been a major political issue in the United States in recent years. From Michael Brown in Ferguson to Freddie Gray in Baltimore, such killings, often of young African Americans, regularly lead international news headlines.

One counting project found 613 people had been killed by US police so far in 2016, as of 28 July. American police routinely carry guns, and most high profile incidents are shootings.

Official figures in the United Kingdom could not paint a more different picture. Statistics released by the Home Office – Britain’s interior ministry – show how rare it is for the UK’s police to use guns.

In England and Wales in the 12 months to March 2016, British police discharged their firearms on just seven occasions, the statistics, released on Thursday show.

This figure is actually a record, of sorts. In the same period ending in March 2013, firearms were used only three times. In the 2015 period they were used six times. Seven uses of weapons is the highest since at least 2009.

More here : www.independent.co.uk... tml

If the parents are considering that their kids are shocked then the parents need their heads banging together.

Warmest respects

Lags

originally posted by: Aliensun
a reply to: nonspecific



"So is this the start of armed police in the UK? Are we simply supposed to get used to this so in a generation or so it will be the norm?"

Welcome to the real world. Upgrade your micro-view of the world.

As I recall, it was the guns of others that has allowed you to maintain yourselves in the manner you have. Far better that your police are holding the guns than some bad "others" from elsewhere.

Didn't Nazi Germany have a cop with a machine gun on every corner?

originally posted by: GodEmperor
Didn't Nazi Germany have a cop with a machine gun on every corner?

Sounds plausable.

Nothing to see here then, move along.

a reply to: nonspecific

how old are they

and most important WHY would the sight of a firearm " spook " them ?????????????

a reply to: nonspecific

I actually live in Newcastle (the city that this is occurring in) and have seen these officers myself.

The UK isnt used to seeing such police out on patrol but only do when security levels are extremely high.

The reason people arent to keen is the fact that we arent being told by local news WHY these armed forces are afoot! This then ensues panic when they are out enforcing without warning.

a reply to: nonspecific

Those individuals who feel safer for their presence ought to remember this:

If you are so fearful that you need an armed policemans presence to make you feel secure, you are a pretty pathetic sort of Briton, and need to grow yourself a backbone.

As for not being alarmed by their presence, as the Police Force Facebook recommends, of course not! Why would British citizens feel at all concerned about the presence of heavily armed police walking around the streets of major cities? It is not as if we are waiting for evidence of a fascist undercurrent in government after all. We already have that. We have no right to privacy, we have no freedom from surveillance what so ever, we are not permitted to prevent our money being used for immoral military activity, the peddling of influence around the world, in places that most Britons would rather our government stayed the hell out of. They control us with laws we do not agree with, with courts who dispense injustice, with propaganda we paid for but is a threat to our freedom, our liberty, and the manifestation of our will as a people.

But the armed Police? Who is worried about them? After all, the Police are nothing more than paid agents of the crown, whose job is to do whatever they are told to do, to ensure the continuity of the establishment, under the guise of protecting the public and having an eye to our security as a nation! And let us ignore that the Police Forces around the country have been involved in undermining the democratic process in this country, by sending undercover agents into otherwise peaceable protest groups, and goading them into illegal activity. Lets ignore that these individuals have, under their assumed names, started relationships with women in those groups, resulting in offspring no less, and then sneered at them after their true nature has been revealed! What POSSIBLE threat could arise from armed members of an organisation that the people cannot possibly trust if they are informed enough to form an opinion at all, walking the streets of our major cities, or anywhere else for that matter?

I find all this PRECISELY as disturbing as the facts insist that I must. When we have a government I trust, I will trust its agents to the point where I would permit them walking about armed to the eyeballs. But until I trust my government, I refuse to accept that a population which is not generally armed itself, ought to have to put up with a police force which totes rifles around without their being an active situation which demands a tactical response.

originally posted by: ignorant_ape
a reply to: nonspecific

how old are they

and most important WHY would the sight of a firearm " spook " them ?????????????

My son is ten, he lives in a little village in the Cotswolds, our culture has not been conditioned to accept machine guns as a natural part of life and therefore he would be concerned as to why the police were all of a sudden walking around with massive guns, is this so hard to understand?

I do realise that our American members are used to this but have no desire for this to turn into yet another US/UK gun debate when the issue can never be resolved.

originally posted by: AMNicks
a reply to: nonspecific

I actually live in Newcastle (the city that this is occurring in) and have seen these officers myself.

The UK isnt used to seeing such police out on patrol but only do when security levels are extremely high.

The reason people arent to keen is the fact that we arent being told by local news WHY these armed forces are afoot! This then ensues panic when they are out enforcing without warning.

Yep, and to me this confirms that there is no valid reason for armed police other than they wish us to accustomed to them so when they come out in force there is nothing we can do about it.

While in the US the police are heavily armed, so are the citizens, which hampers any widespread abuse of government power. UK will not have that balance if only government people are allowed to be armed, that always ends in an oppressive third world regime. If you can't get the guns out of the authorities, UK will need a 2nd amendment to get the guns in the hands of the citizens.

Even better, it gives you a great way to stage an armed assault by dressing up like a British cop and smiling at everyone as you approach your target.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

how old are they

I thought you meant the cops. They do look a bit fresh faced.
www.buzzfeed.com...

Y ounger Police Officers Are More Likely To Shoot People Than Older Ones

a reply to: nonspecific

I tend to agree it is indeed a slippery slope, but the fact of the matter is that we are half way down that particular slide.

It's not nice when they decide to point those MP5s if your direction, ile give you that. But the truth is it just shows them up for what they are, that being silly little fools that were probobly bullied at school with a uniform complex who now have access to automatic weapons. And if we have learned anything from our American cousins its that Police are ready to rock and role, and light you up at the drop of a hat.

Best not to provoke them really.

a reply to: Bedlam

I'm on it! Thanks for the advice.

a reply to: nonspecific

Point one...
Whoever wrote this article cannot write English.

Point two...
Whoever thinks it is a good idea that the common policeman being armed to the teeth is a good thing, I believe you need to refer the 1940s. Think about what happens when those cops have orders to take out a block of people or hold people in custody by a crazy leader. My example sounds crazy but so is history. Once this is commonplace and officers are armed in such a way all over it would be no big deal for them to do whatever they want.

Officers are people too. Do you have faith in EVERY police officer to do the right thing when receiving an order that goes against what they are supposed to do?

This is not the answer, respectfully what is, is an armed populace and strong border control/immigration.

a reply to: andy06shake

That's a good point, I'd go as far as to say fifty percent of policeman were bullied or bullies in school to their own detriment.

Now it's either their turn, or continuing the same old same ol.

Then the other half are people that genuinely want and need to be in those roles that get a bad rap.

a reply to: nonspecific

Up in Vizland the cops are probably extra cautious about safety since they accidentally killed Raoul Moat with a close range XREP. The geeks are still wondering why everyone stopped talking about that useless piece of over-advertised consumer junk.

www.reddit.com...

in the news (and an episode Futureweapons) around 2008. However, other than a few scattered news stories, I can't find much about the system in the news.

The manufacturers forget to mention at close range it will penetrate straight through a man's skull.


I don't think Newcastle will have difficulties with these cops. As long as they go home before pub closing time or they might get beat up.

a reply to: GraffikPleasure

Obviously there are some proper Police that are in the job for the correct reasons but down to the totalitarian overt nature of our Police force one bad apple pretty much spoils the bunch.

It's not the type of profession the public can forgive for their transgressions, and of those there are bucket loads.

a reply to: nonspecific

Only problem I see here is that the government is armed, and the citizens aren't.

I'll agree with the assessment, they want to ramp it up and make it the norm. An armed official on every corner in fifteen years.
Papers, please.

a reply to: nonspecific

"Christmas shoppers and children terrified by armed police on streets with machine guns"

It's sound anyway, Santa's will be there soon to sort them all out.

Poor Brits.. I imagine it is partly that attitude that got their guns jacked from them in the first place. I guess an armed Officer is worse than an isis clown running around with a machete attacking shoppers.. /s