Just read this,
and although alot of people vent at coppers, this just goes to show how dangerous their jobs can be…
so to all plod well done
That was really brave. Only a matter of time before they carry guns if this is what they are having to deal with regularly.
i’ve always wondered about bike coppers, all very well dealing with everyday traffic mistermeaners but chasing that lot on ya pan european?
not sure that’ll help tbh though, if the bill get guns then crims will get more guns and it’ll escalate to US levels and this kind of incident will become more and more common. As this point I’m not sure it’s what they have to deal with ‘regularly’ though.
And with the de menezes debacle verdict recently I think (hope actually) the public would resist a call to arm more officers…
In the light of all the above I think the Police themselves would resist a call to arm more officers.
I live less than 2 miles from there and heard it kicking off. The shots woke me up and I could hear the car screeching away. Thought I was dreaming :crazy:
intresting topic…
Should police carry guns or not?
Ive always been for NOT. Ive always admired the strength of our boys in blue to say no to arming regular, beat and traffic cops. As said above I feel it would only escilate the need for gun with criminals. I personally hope we never have to arm our police. Nieve maybe, but we have to stick to it otherwise the system would break down. All for big 500ml tins of MACE though 
and big foookin dogs
Yep. Hard thankless job under some very extreme circumstances. Think in general youve gotta be pretty special to want to do something like that.
I totally respect the police for not wanting to regularly carry guns and I agree it would be terrible if they started to - what is worrying is that the breakdown in international order since the end of the cold war has flooded this country and the world with all kinds ofn cheap and easily available weapons.
yep I agree as well I think they should stay unarmed… as there is only one way that will end up. and that is more people dead…
I read that report this morning and, although I sincerely hope we never have to arm coppers as a general rule, it must be frightening to be confronting armed idiots with little more than a truncheon and a hopeful attitude . . ! I don’t think I could do it, so hat’s off to them!
The Plod are great; it would be anarchy without them. No system is perfect, but ours is pretty damn good.
More Power To Their Elbows…
i would be confident to carry a firearm and happy to use it should the need arise, but some of the jokers i work with cannot be trusted with a pen let alone a firearm.
+1 - except I’m not sure I’d have ever been any good, done a bit of shooting in the past and I was crap, in fact I’ve probably improved now I’ve only got one arm:D
HA HA HA HA
I think if you asked your average policeman, he would tell you that he didn’t want to carry a gun! The long and short of it is that we are tied down by so much legislation with use of our baton’s and CS spray, that it would just be more of a pain in the arse than anything else. 
:w00t:
Anyway, why arm the beat police officers when we have backup from Trojan units (CO19) just a call away on the radio? Those guys are some of the most highly trained firearms specialists in the world!
You can keep your guns! At the end of the day, our gang’s bigger than their gang… And better trained!.. 
hear them regualry round my way…
i say a big NO to arming all officers…being totally honest…beat officers with guns…accident or silly incident waiting to happen…
keep the Trojan units and ARV’s. they are very well trained, and have what it takes to not only pull the trigger if necessary but also to hold back when nesscary.
RE JCDM incident…this gets my goat big time, until your one of them officers in that situtation…you cant say sod all…how would YOU react in that situation…
Think the lads and lasses from yesterday will be having a little framed certificate from the new boss (whoever that is). Know a little bit about it and yes, very very scary stuff and incredibly brave.
As to the arming, well at the moment the units that are armed do have some very good consistant training which is very frequent. There is no way that if everyone was armed that that sort of constant testing and training would be possible for all, mistakes would be made on a regular basis which could result in fatalities - people are only human (yep, even cops!!) and they make mistakes.
I will say though that some of the boys and girls that work in the areas that I cover, who go about that on a daily basis without being armed are incredibly brave individuals - without mentioning areas, there are some that I don’t think I’d be happy working without having my ‘comforter’.
It is an increasingly common occurence for regular cops to come across direct armed incidents and be threatened with firearms.
and its getting worse…
someone i know…but do not associte too much with, got shot few months back, two lads run up on him while he sat in his car, he survived but now has a bullet in his back for life…
its scary out there, some areas really are no go after dark, when i was younger 97/98 we would hear about the odd stabbing, and up at chimes(murder mile ) the odd shooting…over the years its got worse and worse…its gone from brixton/willsden/hackney etc to all over…
where they getting the guns?..eastern bloc i hear…or re-bores.
Ah the much maligned CHIMES bar eh?