Two police officers killed in Tameside attack as Dale Cregan arrested

[Gerald]

The deaths of two female police constables have brought into focus the unarmed status of most British police. Why does Britain hold firm against issuing guns to officers on the beat?

It's the single most obvious feature that sets the British bobby apart from their counterparts overseas.

Tourists and visitors regularly express surprise at the absence of firearms from the waists of officers patrolling the streets.

But to most inhabitants of the UK - with the notable exception of Northern Ireland - it is a normal, unremarkable state of affairs that most front-line officers do not carry guns.

Unremarkable, that is, until unarmed officers like Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone are killed in the line of duty. There are always those who question why Britain is out of step with most of the rest of the world, with the exceptions of the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and a handful of other nations.

For a heavily urbanised country of its population size, the situation in Great Britain is arguably unique.

Film director Michael Winner, founder of the Police Memorial Trust, and Toy Rayner, the former chairman of Essex Police Federation, have both called for officers to be routinely armed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19641398

Note: 19 September 2012 Last updated at 08:03 GMT

[eddie]

Sorry to hear what happened. How do you guys from the UK feel about the call coming out now about arming the police force?

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2...-double-murder

[Jimbuna]

It happens every time an officer is killed but the Police simply don't want to be armed...between 10 and 15 per cent are always armed anyway and 'armed response units' as they are called are always on hand in each force area to act at a moments notice should a serious incident involving weapons come about.

[eddie]

Thanks Jim

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by eddie

Thanks Jim

My pleasure...the problem as I see it isn't arming the Police but making it harder for these scumbags to get a hold of the weapons in the first place.

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

My pleasure...the problem as I see it isn't arming the Police but making it harder for these scumbags to get a hold of the weapons in the first place.

If scumbag wants gun he gets gun - unless you lock him/her up first. As UK is not dictatorship I don't see how you could reliably do that. Also when scumbag points gun to officer he/she is unlikely to wait armed response unit (ARU?) to arrive before pulling trigger.

I find concept of unarmed police officer extremely difficult to understand. Could you explain that a little bit? Why most bobbies(?) are usually unarmed?

[Herr-Berbunch]

I think it's a case of raising the stakes, if the police are all armed then the crooks will feel the need to be at least on a par with them.

As it currently is you could probably outrun them (not me, fat knacker).

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

My pleasure...the problem as I see it isn't arming the Police but making it harder for these scumbags to get a hold of the weapons in the first place.

Bingo, there's units like SO19 and the like to deal with potential firearms incidents, but if you start putting guns into the hands of the average Bobby, and then skimp on the training (which we would because of budget cuts) then you run the risk of having things like the shoot-out at the Empire State building happen.

The bigger problem, IMHO, if I'm honest, is knife crime. That's where the real figures lie and it's much harder to deal with than gun crime.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Bingo, there's units like SO19 and the like to deal with potential firearms incidents, but if you start putting guns into the hands of the average Bobby, and then skimp on the training (which we would because of budget cuts) then you run the risk of having things like the shoot-out at the Empire State building happen.

The bigger problem, IMHO, if I'm honest, is knife crime. That's where the real figures lie and it's much harder to deal with than gun crime.

Your not a million miles off the mark there...as a firearms trained officer I never drew a bead on anyone but as far as knife defence went I thought I was even more proficient but have two scars to contest my belief