Ross Kemp and the Armed please

[GMES]

So I've just watched the first episode. What can I say other than scary times, it was based in the Midlands this week, it is frightening how many guns are on our streets and how many youngsters are prepared to use them.
Talking to several Armed officers it became clear that they believe all police officers should be armed with at very least a sidearm.

I constantly cling onto the hope that we are a better country than most and it scares me that if all officers are armed we will end up like America, having said that Ross raised a good point by saying why should we expect our police to respond to armed criminals whilst not armed themselves.
I don't know if they should all be armed but I realistically think it will end up that way.
What are your thoughts!!!

 

[dave274]

I'm happy for the specially trained officers to carry weapons but I wouldn't trust some cops with a spud gun. We do need a lot more armed officers though just so there's one on the scene asap when a jihadi starts spraying lead around the town centre.

 

[Wilko]

How to tackle violent criminals is a complex question and there isn't a simple fix. But personally I would be happy to have all Police with sidearms.

 

[Midwest]

More armed cops, but not all of them.

Regular training implications, which would not only be financially unviable, but also reduce the already sparse policing levels. And not everyone is suitable to be deployed with a firearm, look at the mistakes in the US. Some officers wouldn't want to carry a firearm.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Kind of a moot question really.
This Government has reduced Police numbers by 40,000.
1,000 of which from London were trained as armed Police officers.
You can probably remember the fuss made after the Westminster Bridge attacks when the Government deployed 1,100 troops into the Capital.
They’re hardly going to bolster the Police by arming them now.

 

[Squid]

Stiffer sentencing would help for a start, life means life not life with a minimum 7 years.

 

[Nigel]

Kind of a moot question really.
This Government has reduced Police numbers by 40,000.
1,000 of which from London were trained as armed Police officers.
You can probably remember the fuss made after the Westminster Bridge attacks when the Government deployed 1,100 troops into the Capital.
They’re hardly going to bolster the Police by arming them now.

It is actually 20,000. Still significant but important to be accurate.

 

[Nigel]

I actually get my warrant card tomorrow as a Special Constable. I feel like I am lucky enough to have the time to help so should do so.

I don’t see a need for all police officers to be armed. The areas with gun issues are inner cities so routinely arming Bobbies in a Yorkshire village makes little sense.

Armed police are already around these city areas.

 

[Squid]

I actually get my warrant card tomorrow as a Special Constable. I feel like I am lucky enough to have the time to help so should do so.

I don’t see a need for all police officers to be armed. The areas with gun issues are inner cities so routinely arming Bobbies in a Yorkshire village makes little sense.

Armed police are already around these city areas.

Well done.

 

[Squid]

I hardly ever used mine and sold it on (legally) a good few years back and it wasn't kept in the UK before anyone asks, all legal and above board at the gun club.

 

[Midwest]

I actually get my warrant card tomorrow as a Special Constable. I feel like I am lucky enough to have the time to help so should do so.

Good luck.

 

[Midwest]

The areas with gun issues are inner cities so routinely arming Bobbies in a Yorkshire village makes little sense.

Don't quite agree with that. Putting aside recent events, some of the most infamous events of major firearms incidents, have not been in inner cities. I'm thinking (in my area) of Hungerford & Highmoor Cross. Both of these incidents, tragic for the victims, changed the way TVP dealt with firearms incidents.

Its these places where response times are critical, not so much so in inner cities, where there will be a higher & quicker armed response levels. More ARV's are required. But even that takes money, resources etc. Don't know what the answer would be. Fighting the illegal access to firearms, would help, but too valuable a trade for criminals.

 

[Squid]

Don't quite agree with that. Putting aside recent events, some of the most infamous events of major firearms incidents, have not been in inner cities. I'm thinking (in my area) of Hungerford & Highmoor Cross. Both of these incidents, tragic for the victims, changed the way TVP dealt with firearms incidents.

Its these places where response times are critical, not so much so in inner cities, where there will be a higher & quicker armed response levels. More ARV's are required. But even that takes money, resources etc. Don't know what the answer would be. Fighting the illegal access to firearms, would help, but too valuable a trade for criminals.

Trouble was that in Hungerford Michael Ryan was licensed for various firearms so the screening process was at fault, in this day and age anyone caught carrying an unlicensed weapon should get an automatic 20 years in the clink.

Carrying a fully automatic should mean life.

 

[telectrix]

i'm ok then, my .22 is single action and by the time i've loaded it, the bloody pigeon is miles away:

 

[MDJ]

Giving ordinary police guns will end up in a blood bath, too many inexperienced gung ho coppers about. The police who do carry weapons have specialist training and are picked due to attitude and professionalism, if all police were armed buffoons would have guns, not good.

I respect the police and fully support them but have witnessed incompetence from them myself, I really have on several occassions, I don't think some of them are trained properly, but I do believe the armed cops are trained properly.

Due to cut backs and a decreasing budget training will not be there for all cops if armed IMO, and there will be innocents killed. Lets keep things as they are, regardless of these gangs, otherwise we will end up like the states.