Time for me and my mates to be armed yet?

[Ratty]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/6629561.stm

And so another unarmed colleague dies.....

I carry an ASP. I carry CS. I carry Quik-Cuffs.

Thats it.

I don't get a gun. Nor did he... He went to a domestic equipped as I would have.....

In the UK we haven't got used to wearing black ribbons in public yet......
I think we should.

Maybe see some of you in September for my DRE Recerts??

Cheers Guys and Gals

[David]

That's horrible. :cry:

[Fifty150]

When are the police in the UK allowed to carry weapons?

[HotPursuit]

With all the terrorist attacks in England and the Parliament knowing that terrorist groups are housed there, why not forego the "proper" way of handling the dirty business and arm the police with the "proper" equipment needed to get the job done right? ( excuse the long sentence )

The world is at an age when conventional rules no longer apply and ASP's are about as useless as a pencil in the hands of a wayward child.

Don't bring an ASP to a gunfight!

[AyatollahGondola]

I've always wondered why they have a policy of no guns,

They wouldn't be afraid of the police using them on the king or parliment, so what's the story behind that?

[HotPursuit]

There's a lot of things I don't understand about England.

Ratty, is there such a thing called a doorknob tax there????

[Ratty]

OK, It turns out the officer was part of an Armed Response Unit.

In the UK officers only carry an ASP, Cuffs and CS.

They will be backed up by a few cars for the entire area that carry firearms in a locked box. They can only arm on the instruction of the Control Room Inspector.

Unless they had been given permission to arm, (Unlikely for a domestic unless there was information about firearms at the address)..the officers' pistol and MP5 would have been in the box.

Looks like he was a father of two.

HotPursuit..
Doorknob tax??? A new one on me. Mind you we get taxed on just about everything else over here!

I think the policy of no guns is just a tradition thing. Attitudes are slow to change over here. In the meantime, officers are killed and wounded.

[AyatollahGondola]

Doorknob tax??? A new one on me. Mind you we get taxed on just about everything else over here!


"Tax Man" is still one of my favorite songs by the Beatles.
Interesting how some governments disperse their tax structure and others concentrate it. Most of your small monarchies and dictatorships rely on a few rather simple income sources like a tax on exports or something along those lines; But larger ones don't centralize their income. I wonder which of those has the most fair or the least taxed residents.

Guns in a locked box you say? The vast majority of California's citizens and residents have the same requirement.

[Your Mentor]

Law enforcement is stubborn about progress. Always has been. Things don't really change unless it's in response to a multitude of tragedies. Sad. It also requires a progressive thinker in a position of power to make things happen. Politics is the root of all cops' frustrations.
YM

[David]

Politics is the root of all cops' frustrations.
YM Reminds me of that conversation in the car between William H. Macy and Joe Mantegna in "Homicide".

[Mac]

Very sorry to hear about that, Ratty. My condolences to that constable's family and friends.

Tradition and all that aside, the very thought of having a largely 'disarmed' police force is very disquieting to me. I realize that firearms are illegal and much less prolific in the U.K., but laws are only useful if people obey them - and criminals obviously have no regard for a law saying they can't possess firearms. It's illegal in much of the U.S. to carry loaded/concealed firearms too, and it's also illegal to use a gun in the commission of a crime - yet we still see it all too often. Taking guns away from police officers and law-abiding citizens only makes them easier prey for those who will arm themselves regardless of the law.

[ihatecrashing]

Mac, your absolutely right, gun laws only stop law abiding citizens from arming themselves.

I'd much rather be shot to death than beaten with an aluminum bat, or stabbed with a knife.

-crash