Should All UK Police Be Armed?

reply to post by kevinunknown


They've been armed for years, and some of them (despite 6 weeks training) are not suitable. Army knows how to use guns, police don't.

reply to post by Darkrunner


Sticks, they have big sticks.
And they come and sit on you

reply to post by SpearofOdin


Star for that, dude!
We're not allowed guns where i live, so i guess if someone breaks into my house it will cost him a short painful KungFu lesson, and my Leatherman up his ass

reply to post by kevinunknown


NO! What makes the Armed Police any better than the Murderer?

Just BAN guns/Rifles in every store in Britian if they really want to stop the gun violence. Only should the member's of their gun's/rifle's be stored/kept at a local gun club.

Now this is going off-topic however it still proves a point. There is a model of Ferrari which can only be used at the track and has a value of £1,000,000 and cannot be driven on the road, yet you can own this car but can ONLY be used in conjunction with the race track.

That being said used the same strategy in this case banning guns in all local stores and only make it accessible to be used/owned at local gun clubs that cannot be taken away from premeises.

Originally posted by ChrisF231

If they have it, they'll use it.

That's not true at all, despite what the media wants you to think well over 90% of US law enforcement officers go their entire careers without having to shoot someone.

Should all UK police be armed? Yes, and ditto for all the remaining unarmed police forces left in the world (Irish Garda, Norwegian Police, Icelandic Police, and the various British colonial and Commonwealth police forces).

Absolutely NOT. I disagree entirely. I am British and would not like to see UK Police with guns as a normal course of duty, any more than I would like to see the Guards have guns here.

If they have it they will draw it, that you can be sure of. Whether they use it or not is a different matter. My son was Met Armed response up until a year ago but is now on a career break, and I am ex as well - but many moons ago when a beat bobby was a beat bobby on a bike!

We don't need them. We also don't need Tazers and I think they should be banned as inhumane. What we need, not only in the UK but all countries, is a bit more respect being taught in the schools and homes, not just for Police but for all adults, teachers etc - provided of course they earn it.

There are trained officers at stations, and they can be armed at the discretion of the Chief Constable.

Every citizen should be armed. The police qualify as citizens - so sure, they should be armed.

In my view, every person in a democracy should be issued with an assault rifle and side arm. Every tenth person with a SAM or LAW - and everyone trained in their use.

Every citizen should be a soldier.

The government would fear the people, and no country would think of invading.

Also, violent crime would be a dangerous business - so crims would likely try to avoid violent confrontations.

[edit on 10-7-2010 by Amagnon]

I have mixed views on this. I don't think the UK police should be armed as I see it as an escalation rather than a deterrent, some people just want an excuse to go one further, police having guns would give unsavoury characters justification to carry too.
On the other hand there was a WPC who attended a call to a jewelery store robbery and was gunned down straight away, she had no chance - if she was armed she may well be alive today.
In general maybe we need more armed officers that can be dispatched quickly but for all of them, not just yet.

Peace

Originally posted by havok
Should all UK police be armed? No.

BUT: All of UK citizens should be.

I think that there is a time and a place for armed police and un-armed police.

I'm glad I don't live there.

Knife crime is up?

Of course it is.

Wow this is so true. I've always felt the UK would be a better place if citizens could own firearms easier, best way to stop an oppressive government.

To be honest I think most of the knife crimes reported in the MSM are fear-mongering.

This thread is geting quite interesting, the way i see it those of you who are against a armed police force have good points. Other’s seem to have a rabid mistrust of the police and it is this is your soul reason for being against arming the police. Those of you who do not fall into this camp are making some very good points.

I am not talking about all police running about with MP5’s what i am saying is that all should be armed with tazers. They should also all be trained to use hand guns however it should be at the discretion of the Chief Constable were police use them. So for example say police receive intelligence of gangs running around with guns on a estate in Manchester, the beat boobies can be armed. And if necessary all police in the force can be armed this would have been useful in Northumbria recently.

I don't have a problem with all British police carrying a pistol, but only if law abiding citizens could have the same at home if they so wish, to protect themselves and their family.

reply to post by kevinunknown


Just skimmed the post and would like to put my point across.

On a day to day basis i believe, like you, that police shouldn't be routinely armed.

But i do think an armed response team should be based at every station where possible.

Also, just to point out that there are a lot of young men and women, some as young as 18, who are legally armed every night all over britain, without any of the stringent controls that are currently in place for armed police.....

I want my police armed.

Like it or not, guns are available, and if we have some guy shooting up a school, be it in Colorado or Scotland, I want the gunman put out of commission, not firing at police while they wave their batons at him.

reply to post by Darkrunner


Couldn’t agree more, I think i would feel safer if i know my local beat bobbie was armed.

Trust me, as an American you need to hear it straight from the mouths of those who have lived in a society of armed to the teeth police......

DON'T ARM YOUR POLICE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!!!

Once the police get armed with deadly weapons the slaughter will begin. There are so many Americans who are tazed and shot to death every year by their law enforcement officers. Many of which only needed physical restraining, not lethal force. And this is not even counting the "Oops I killed him/her situations.

Just the other day some dunz of a cop was given a minor conviction for pulling his tazer to zap a compliant, restrained (by two officers) man, just because he could... The only big problem was that he pulled out his gun instead and killed him! OOpsie!

We have so many people gunned down and paralyzed by tazers and guns here that just about everyone is looking over there shoulders. Not to be on the look out for crooks, but to be on the look out for cops.

Do you British really want to degrade your society to the level that America has sank to?

Honestly ask yourself that question.

reply to post by kevinunknown


Unequivocally, no. Keep the guns in the hands of the specially trained, specially called-in officers. The average street-level police officer barely has to pass his GCSE's - I don't want to arm idiots, do you? I wouldn't even give them the non-lethals they already have, never mind a gun. It's gently terrifying just thinking about it.

[edit on 11-7-2010 by eightfold]

reply to post by Darkrunner


You realise that many many innocent people would get shot at because of police over-reactions? I've seen countless videos of it happening in the US.

Are you genuinely saying you'd arm all the police to prevent the handful of shooting incidents we have in the UK each year?

I'm no statistician or crystal-ball-holder, but I'd bet good money *more* people would die if the police were armed, not less.

It seems to be a trend in this thread that most people who do not want to have a armed police force only have one reason, a hate for police and a believe they are all in some way stupid. This reason has already been heavily criticised.

Under current UK police firearms procedure based on the protocols fallowed by CO19 the regulations would be tight enough to prevent any accidental deaths out with what would be considered as the relatively acceptable collateral damage. In the UK accidental police shootings like this are extremely rare and as i have said as long the same procedure is followed and high training standards maintained accidental deaths would be negligible in comparison to lives saved.

reply to post by kevinunknown


Most street-level police are quite academically lacking - that's not some kind of predjudice, it's a fact. The entry requirements are low.

Highly trained, highly educated 'thinking men' can get the guns so far as I'm concerned - the reason we have such a low incidence of accidental shootings in the UK is (I'd guess) partly because of the low number of call outs for armed units, and partly because of the very high level of training they have to go through to join one.

PC John who likes to "randomly" stop-and-search asian & black youths shouldn't be given a gun, and arming the whole force would give him one.

reply to post by eightfold


You are clearly not familiar with the UK police recruitment process if you think any idiot can join up. Also the calls out rates are high especially in areas such as London, Manchester and Belfast and yes the death rates are low because of their training. We already have one police force in the UK were all their officers are Armed and we have regular armed police in cities.

Personally i think that not all UK police should be armed.

We have special units for a reason. But I agree with another member who said that in some cases we should actually use the army who are better trained in dealing with sensitivity.

Depends on the scenario i guess.