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Originally posted by DarknStormy
Heres a message from some Aussies from what seems to be a little bit after the gun ban here.
Funny how things pan out..
This week the state government deployed the first of its 940 protective services officers, or PSOs. To be clear, these are pretend police, armed with semi-automatic weapons, who will roam railway stations at night. To make us all safer.
If they detain troublemakers, they must then wait for help from proper police while avoiding the temptation to use their brand new Smith & Wessons.
PSO does not stand for Point, Shoot, Oops. Not yet, anyway. Despite what this hair-trigger-brained initiative might suggest, Victoria has not been taken over by a bunch of cowboys. It's just the Baillieu government giving us what we want - a response to public nuisance, apparently. But it is destined to be at best simplistic and, at worst, tragic.
I don't know what disturbs me more: the thought of our railway stations being patrolled by minimally prepared folk with firearms, pepper spray and batons; or the possibility that many Victorians think this is a bright idea.