Armed Police?

[tdiplc]

In the light of the threat of a terrist attack which WILL happen here, and the poor Copper that was murdered yesterday arresting suspected terrorists, should our police be armed?

[dribble]

ARU - armed responce units... I thought they dealt with such problems...

I think police sould be atleast "bullet proofed" and perhaps hand guns... but as long as they were not given to women

PMT and all ;-)

Depends on situ I guess...

A random traffic stop would not require a weapon, but if they were chasing a know criminal they would arm-up accordingly

[DaveEllen]

Not sure if it would have helped in this case as the man was already in custody (for 1 hour ??? )

Myself ......... A harsh prison regime for persistant offenders (3 strikes) No TV etc........Life meaning Life may make people think twice......

[ifraz]

I thought all Police Officer wore stab proof jackets

[javadude]

Having all police armed would be added incentive for criminals to be armed.

[Mitch]

i also thought they had special units that were bullet proofed and armed for certain situations, although my guess is they didnt think they would need them and underestimated the situation???????

certain coppers should be armed but hell no to all of them being armed!!

[Brian Berry]

I think that what happened here was that the police were initially assisting Immigration and another police force and were not expecting physical aggro.This complacency does exist especially concerning giving aid. Its easy to be wise after the event. I would have thought that in policing todays society that at no time should there be any relaxation and in such cases the top priority should be to tool up with the necessary body armour, gas sprays ( and a firearm unit even if its on standby). This tooling up should apply to all officers attending the commitment and not just the Tactical Unit where I believe in this case went in first wearing body armour but failed to handcuff the detainees.

[greeneyes]

Looking at the amount of armanents pouring into Britain from Eastern Europe for the drug gangs, I'd say armed Police will be inevitable. However they will quite ineffective compared to an armed populace. The terrible increase in armed crime since guns were confiscated in the UK makes it a place I'd rather not live in, and it is the classic example of the bumper sticker-

-If you guns then only outlaws will have them-

Try www.cybershooters.org

[Claire G]

Police should be better protected, not necessarily armed.