Is it now time that our police are all armed?

[Roland Butter]

Yes, Police should be armed but it demonstrates that the utmost protection of the public is not high on their
list of responsibilities when they, as a group, regularly dismiss the idea.
Surely the option to use ultimate force should be available to every police officer ?

The cost of training is a pathetic, risible excuse, every other country in Europe can fund armed constabulary.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Is that 26% figure due to any AFO who does fatally discharge their weapon in the course of duty being thrown straight under a bus by the IPCC?

What fantasy world are you living in?

 

[Vonhelmet]

Yes, Police should be armed but it demonstrates that the utmost protection of the public is not high on their
list of responsibilities when they, as a group, regularly dismiss the idea.
Surely the option to use ultimate force should be available to every police officer ?

The cost of training is a pathetic, risible excuse, every other country in Europe can fund armed constabulary.

Ultimate Force? But what if Ross Kemp is busy?

 

[adolf hamster]

No, it will end up providing a much less solid framework for the transport of weapons into the country and within 10 years you can bet that the black market will be reaming with arms.

y'wot? do you have any basis for that whatsoever?

because fairly sure the answer is no

 

[StriderX]

y'wot? do you have any basis for that whatsoever?

because fairly sure the answer is no

Oh really you think increasing arms shipments into the UK wont increase the chances of arms being in the black market? Or that there would be a greater need to arm oneself in the face of such a force?

Its a question of probability, not that it is definite, much like how 20k less officers increased the probability of terrorism.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

What fantasy world are you living in?

Google the way AFOs who've been later judged to have conducted "good shoots" have been treated by the IPCC and report back.

 

[adolf hamster]

Oh really you think increasing arms shipments into the UK wont increase the chances of arms being in the black market? Or that there would be a greater need to arm oneself in the face of such a force?

Its a question of probability, not that it is definite, much like how 20k less officers increased the probability of terrorism.

this is one importation of a batch of guns, it's not like we're starting an international arms trading deal.

this isn't the army we're talking about, these guns will spend their lives in their holsters with regular servicing and little exposure to adverse conditions.

the "increased arms shipments" into northern ireland (where it's also the only part of the uk where "self defence" is a legal reason to own and keep a handgun) has absolutely co-incided with an increase in violence on the streets... not

 

[IronWarrior]

Yes, because every single person has the mental capacity to be trained in armed combat and shoot someone on sight

UK has very strict laws in gun control, if not the strictest rules for them. You need a valid reason for ownership and therefore have a interest in some sort of shooting sport and soon you lose that valid reason, you lose your guns.

People in the US who own guns often train at gun ranges often or practice military training or take part in sports like IPSC.

It's not often reported in the news but people who have CCW have stopped mass shootings in the US.

Since we have some common sense laws, it's not far fetch to allow CCW in the future in the UK but with the conditions and rules that you must get training to use it, it would also create jobs and a whole new industry, plus sport and

Because people would get too trigger happy and have no common sense, like many do in the US.

Ah the thing you really need to understand about the Police system in the US is the training required to become an officer over there compared to the UK system and it's very different state to state, but we talking about 4 or so months compared to 12 months to 2 years in the UK.

Our Police are just better trained in the end, our Cops are held to a higher standard too. Some people might disagree, but I think it's a good thing that when an Officer over here fires his weapon, he gets put on leave and the whole shooting incident is reviewed.

 

[DAIR]

Having normal armed police on our streets wouldn't have prevented what happened. I'm also against your normal police man/woman carrying guns..... Humans cannot be trusted!

 

[Raggs]

100% they should be equipped with a side arm as they are in Denmark and have been since 1965, if that means longer training time so be it i don't buy this argument that criminals will tool up in response the worst criminals have already got guns anyway. and tasers seen a bloke wielding a axe on live leak the taser was deployed and it didn't stop him.

that copper with the baton the got stabbed in the face the other night if he has been armed with a pistol he could have stopped terrorist scum dead. instead of waving a stick around it's ridiculous

 

[Dis86]

What fantasy world are you living in?

The real world. Look at how the ipcc has treat police officers who shoot someone. Every single incident is investigated and the officers are almost presumed to be guilty with the ipcc deciding if they're innocent.

 

[adolf hamster]

Our Police are just better trained in the end, our Cops are held to a higher standard too. Some people might disagree, but I think it's a good thing that when an Officer over here fires his weapon, he gets put on leave and the whole shooting incident is reviewed.

yep, nail meets head. whilst i do concede the current system for reviewing police shootings is somewhat heavy handed and could do with a few tweaks as others have said, it's good there is a system to maintain accountability.

the American argument is pointless in debates like this, they have such an ingrained gun culture and the sheer amount of civilian held firearms makes police officers jobs very hard, as you never know when someone is going to draw on you, no wonder they're so trigger happy in an environment like that if its shoot first or die. if you're going to compare armed police forces to our own then for gods sake pick a European country.

 

[Django x2]

Its a sad society that we now live in but maybe it's time that Our police all start carry weapons?

They should not have to be fighting off armed individuals with only a batten.

Our police are armed, clearly....

 

[FTM]

no problems with all officers being issued a taser, I wouldnt want to see them all with handguns

the sheer amount of training would probably keep more officers off the streets!

 

[Burnsy2023]

Is that 26% figure due to any AFO who does fatally discharge their weapon in the course of duty being thrown straight under a bus by the IPCC?

The perception that this is the case certainly has an effect. The way the IPCC has also gone around post incident procedures has also left officers feel unsupported.

What fantasy world are you living in?

It's a real worry for many officers and an often cited reason for really good officers not wanting to join ARV.

 

[Arthur Hucksake]

What about tranquilizer guns?

We could manufacture some kind of semi-auto one.

But anyway, so far none of these attackers have had guns. Only knives. So what we need is training in how to deal with someone holding a knife.

We got that. It's called a bullet to the face.

 

[Roar87]

Oh really you think increasing arms shipments into the UK wont increase the chances of arms being in the black market? Or that there would be a greater need to arm oneself in the face of such a force?

Its a question of probability, not that it is definite, much like how 20k less officers increased the probability of terrorism.

Do you have any idea how closely monitored Police firearms are? They literally count the bullets in and out of the armoury. Some don't go accidentally missing and end up on the black market. Plus our military already has thousands of firearms.

 

[NewGamer11]

Maybe not all police but an increase in firearms officers and CT-SFOs would be good. Pretty much guaranteed after the last couple of months.

 

[Trifid]

No. I expect the number of deaths on our streets from poorly trained police having guns would be higher then the deaths saved by first responders potentially being able to stop a terrorist.

More police and a light armed presence of highly trained officers, yes.

 

[dowie]

not sure I'd trust *all* police officers to have weapons... I don't think the application process to become a firearms officer is 100% successful for every police applicant, if the police currently feel some of there officers are not suitable for that sort of responsibility then we've got a bit of a problem if someone wants to arm all officers

one alternative is to drop our standards, have US style police forces, and the resulting increase in police related shootings that would bring

I think perhaps increasing the use of tazer could have helped with incidents like the recent London attack