Should British cops be armed?

Happy Murcia

They have been for many years,,and until 1936 ALL London police had the choice to carry firearms,,,,,but as for today and in the street then NO WAY,,we do not live in a gun society whatever the papers say

All UK gun crimes number less than 300 incidents a year,,much less than the 10,000 gun deaths in the US every year

nc_hull

All Police should be armed with TASER or even a baton gun option but not small arms, the less than lethal options are needed for knife threats which are more of a threat to Police than guns.

carswoody

Good question(have a star), stand@btinternernet or Iian should have some anti-police opinion on this.

I am a serving police officer working in a busy city response unit(1st on scene).
I dont see the need for arming all police, and a lot of police will feel unhappy about being armed.
I am ex armed forces and would happily carry a sidearm. But I dont think your normal bobby on the beat should. Weapon use needs to be extended because response units around the Uk are the ones most likely to attend a situation where a gun is being used. Only when it has been confirmed that a weapon has been discharged will the armed response unit attend. If an attack alarm goes off at a bank then its response officers who attend, not the ARV.I think that Response officers should be allowed to carry a sidearm and I think that ALL police officers should carry a taser.
The real problem is that there are politicians siting in a cosy office saying we dont need them, they will never know unless they get off their backsides and take a ride with us sometimes.
I will give you a good example.........
2 months ago myself and another officer attended a domestic violence incident. The offender, a very muscular male, was high on drugs and suffers with Bi-polar. He was not armed and had beat his girlfreind up, but as soon as we attempted to escort him out of the address, he latched onto my collegue and attacked him. The offender started biting hard on his arm and my buddy could not break free from his grasp. I could not pull him away and after repeated warnings I started to hit him with my baton. The offender ended up with a broken shin bone and 2 broken ribs, he did not feel this at first(drugged up) and started to assault me then ran away...did not get far.
My point is that if I had a taser the incident would have been stopped instantly, myself and my collegue and the offender would not have ended up in hospital. The only chance of any injury would be when the offender fell to the floor as a result of being tasered.
I respect people opinions, when they are well informed, but people who state that in todays society we do not need any more forms of protection, then they should take a walk around the suburbs of our cities at night. Its not pretty.

The job is hard enough, but without the respect of politicians and the public alike, it feels like I put my life on the line for nothing.

*Edit*.....Ha ha ha ha, there we go, Thanks Iain, for your educated and honest opinion! You are a great example of why we need a police force in the first place. Without your untrained opinions this place would be boring! Im not even going to change my spelling mistake(you need something to have a pop at dont you).

Bear

I believe that we do not need to arm more officers with conventional firearms.

Each force within England and Wales have Firearms Departments, which operate to provide an adequate response to the criminal use of firearms. This is done by having patrolling ARV's (Armed Response Vehicles), available to respond to spontaneous incidents.

Armed officers also conduct pre-planned firearms operations to arrest individuals, following a risk assessment of the individual. Tactics used all depends on the nature of the risk.

At present the the numbers of firearms officers is adequate. Yes we hear of more shootings, however having more firearms officers on the streets will not negate this. A recent survey by th Police Federation showed that the vast majority of UK officers do not want to be armed.

Very rarelly do officers come face to face with armed criminals. We will all remember recent incidents where UK officers were shot and killed attending incidents. Having a firearm will not necessarily prevent this. On the occasions that I remember the officers were responding to incidents where no firearm was mentioned. On one occasion the officer was a fireams officer and was shot before he had time to react to the threat.

What we do need however is to stamp down hard on those that carry guns and those that use them without thinking of the consequences. Currently possession of a firearm attracts a five year sentence. Dismally this actually means just over half that sentence will be served.

My personal opinion, which is now coming to fruition is that response officers are armed with Taser. These are being trialled on non-firearms officers in 6 UK forces. The biggest threat to those officers is from edged weapons. Hopefully this will endeavour to give those officers the protection they need and the capability to deal with such subjects.

Edit - Thank you Joan!! I was tickled by Stand's comments about getting to know you better!! Don't go therel, he's a fool!! My 4 year old talks more sense than he does!!

Iain - have a thumbs down for talking utter rubbish again. My 4 year old also has more intellect than you too.... but then thats not hard... is it?

mebe1042

I think that is one you Brits need to answer. As a American Police Officer, my opinion is Officers be armed with Tasers at the minimum.

At risk of sounding rude, Wooly. How in the Hell did the violence problem in the UK become America's fault!? People like you need only look in a mirror to see where the problem is.

joan k

No I don't think that they should. Some haven't got the brains to be trusted with firearms as recent "accidents" to themselves prove. Also some bullys who hide behind the uniform could become trigger happy. Firearms should only be entrusted to Officers we can trust. People such as Bear who talk sense and are level headed.

Mrs M

Yes, a friend of mine whose a policewomen got attacked by a 15 year old with a knife, he got an asbo! If she had a gun it would be one less piece of scum.

JohnDoe

They aren't?

-That's insane. So your telling me only the criminals have guns in your country. Not even law enforcement officials. Ridiculous. You dont even have the right to defend yourselves?

Bassman58

Yes, crime in England has gone up.

*****

Yes, but the anti-gun British hierarchy will not let this happen.

jim_n_ruth

With the way the world is today, yes they should. Life just isn't the same any more sadly.

mike h

Yes, absolutely. But with two MAJOR proviso's.

1) Police training should be as tough, strict and constant as the military, especially on firearm issues. This would negate the point of any 'community support' muppets and 'city security' useless bags of *****! Policemen should be REAL policemen, with the full training and powers that the badge offers.

2) They should be allowed to actually use them if and when necessary, without the fear of losing their career and going to jail if they shoot some little chav scrote on an asbo who decides to sue. They should be immune from such idiocy.

Kasey H

Common courtesy and respect are a thing of the past as a former Wichita cop I have a bi est response but sure back in the day people had respect for the bobbies but that day is long gone.Cops should be able to defend them selves I don't care what country there from

the devil wears camo

not without better firearms training,to carry a firearm is one thing,to use it is another and at this moment in time through no fault of theirs the police are under too much pressure to produce results and mistakes are made,if needed ,police armed response units are available and to increase their numbers at this time without justification seems wrong,by arming all police officers the message sent out is that we cant cope and that is not the British way,never mind real guns,hand out the tazers to all

kicking_qt

After being brought up on a military base and seeing some of the younger lads being given guns(usually sporting hangovers) whilst on guard I would definately say no to the general police officers being armed. I just dont trust them at all.

The right to carry arms should involve more than a few weeks basic training.

The armed response teams should be given more money for training and employing more officers if required.

moggle

get taser

mike UK

A better question would be: should people coming from the Caribbean and Africa to the UK be armed? Because the police say many of them are

david h

If the British police were not armed, how on earth would they direct traffic? It would certainly help the criminal fraternity if they were not armed as it would make it difficult for a police officer to handcuff a detainee.

BlackSheep

Yes of course.... Even the young kids on our streets are armed to the teeth..Blair had a dream...an American dream..now we have it on our doorsteps. All we need now is to match the amount of prisons there are in the U.S to lock up all the criminals there are in the U.K.

Sal*UK

I think you will find a surprising number of British police cars carry firearms now - but the usage of them is still highly regulated.

ahsoasho2u2

England is unique, but so are your laws--here you kill a policeman and your a gang hero-there you are dead meat. just a mild difference between jurisdictional international laws

i think police should be armed with guns. not all police, but police walking the streets and in city centres should be armed, i think the crime rate would decline

Ben Gunn

It is a matter of training, but not necessarily training in the use of firearms.

We already have armed officers to deal with the incidents where they are required. The weapons are safely locked away until consent has been given for their use.

In 30 years service, I learnt to talk to people - something that the police do not do today. I talked my way out of any trouble, usually single-handed. I was armed with a wooden baton. In 30 years, I drew it once and never used it.

For day to day policing, the need is not for arms, it is for officers who can communicate with people and understand them.

A friend who visited America was stopped by the police. As he started to open the car door, the door was kicked shut on his leg and a gun was drawn on him. He was told never to take his hands off the steering wheel again without permission.

By contrast, I once stopped a driver in the UK for a minor infringement and found that he was an American. I asked for his driving licence and he started to give me a commentary "I wish to put two fingers into the inside pocket of my jacket and I shall then pull out my wallet ...." I replied "We don't play that game over here. Just show me the licence".

I know which society I would prefer to live in.

sean w

no uk should stay with a mostly unarmed police force.
it will makes things worse thats my gut reaction.
give them pepper spray, tazers etc. we dont have the death penalty in tis country i dont want cops to have the power of life and death on my streets.

HUNNYMONSTA

No. If there is ever a requirement for any additional armed law enforcement we should bring the Army on board to do it in support of the police. The police have more than enough power as it is.

The police have proven themselves completely incompetent, in the matter of the Brazilian chap, when it comes to dealing with an armed response situation. It's a wonder they turned up at all really, but when they did they were being guided by commanders who changed their minds more than Britain changes its weather. If the Braz had been a Brit he'd have probably been alive today because the police wouldn't have turned up in the first place.

Hoeksteen

I think it's about right here in the UK

I DO NOT think ALL Police should be armed

There is a place for armed officers, and when not our

Rapid Armed Response Unit Can deal with it

It is to be remembered our firearm officers are not issued handguns
But semi-Automatic and Automatic Weapons and we operate a shoot to Kill Policy

Edward Hyde

Two changes have taken place. First people are virtually disarmed and unable to defend themselves in their own homes in Britain. Whereas the gun violence was only half that in the United States, it is now twice as high, Second the population has changed because of an influx of people with entirely different concepts of legality and respect for the right of others. People are moving out of once peaceful towns near large cities, and 200,000 people moved out of the country entirely last year while 500,000 moved in from places with no concept of individual Rights. Step one should be to restore the rights of people to own defensive guns, and step two should be to arm the police.

Joan el guiri

They are.

To be safe, do not come from Brazil, carry a chair leg, carry a gun, or have a nervous breakdown. Others have died for these crimes.

p.s. Carswood is a serving policeman. Not surprisingly, he can't even spell my name. See what I mean! Lower order people join the police.. The fool and his colleague could not even restrain someone properly and got what they deserved.

He should also read up on bi-polar. The illness has nothing to with what happened. His lack of ability and knowledge will result in more of his colleagues being harmed. He is a typical English thug who beats up mentally ill people because he is untrained in dealing with them.
I think he should be reported to 'Mind'.
In civilised countries, the men in white coats deal with the mentally ill. This serving police officer wants to kill them!

This man is not mentally fit to carry a gun. No wonder the Army did not keep him! (I suppose he got a goldfish in his army shooting test)

God help us.

katy

No !!! god forbid they will start shooting women instead
of harrassing them

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