That'll be why my mum's operation was delayed yesterday then. Hostly, she was supposed to have a new heart valve fitted at 08.00 yesterday at the John Radcliffe, but it was delayed because of an emergency. These f**king idiots are jeopardising everyone else's lives 
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No, only the Yanks routinely Tazer each other for fun. We are limited to accidents and mad Chief Constables.............. |
All forces Firearms Units have Tazer and it's currently being trialled with other specialist units, ie Support Groups, Drug Squads, Dog Handlers in 11 other forces. Personally I think all front line officers should have them. |
With all of the knife incidents that are happening in the UK. (My start page is BBC news for the northwest, from where I originally hail). I'd think that hand guns and Kevlar vests for all would be more in tune with reality. Here in Germany the Polizei have their H&K P7M8 (or other, depending on their Bundesland / County) and pepper spray, with other type's of weapons either in their patrol car or at the station, these being mainly MP5's, but I'm assured they have other's at hand. |
You may well be right but it's not that easy. The majority of officers still would prefer not to carry firearms, although they are happy for others to do so on their behalf. If we went that route the training and equipping costs would be prohibitive, plus the ongoing training and maintenance costs. Additionally, firearms initial courses hover around the 50% pass rate (and that's from those who actually want to do it), so there's @ 50% of the service needing replacing and 50% redundant. This is how politicians/bosses look at it. What government wants the stigma of permanently arming the British Police? etc.,... |
I am sure you are right, but I don't think I will see it in my remaining seven years, short of a series of major shooting related incidents. We have a great tradition of getting shot at................ |
EXACTLY! And the refusal to adopt a grown up and mature attitude to carrying a firearms is why we have a Police force that has almost zero credibility and respect amongst the general population and seems to model itself as some sort of uniformed social worker service. If you do not have the means upon your person to enforce compliance with the law you are not in the law and order game. |
Yes you do, but strangely enough, the PSNI officers don't… I wonder if that's because every PSNI officer carries a pistol and is expected to be fully conversant in it's use and to be able to shoot to a good standard? 
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That's not quite the same, and I'm not sure that the reason coppers are not universally held in high regard is because they don't always realise who's on their side - Senior Officers who target the plod on the street (or should that be in the car/station) with arresting householders for dealing with housebreakers, setting up departments who's sole role is hassling mostly law abiding citizens by post who stray a few mph over the limit and sending three bobbies 150 miles to investigate anti-Welsh comments by Anne Robinson could well have something to do with the general view of ACPO and their ilk. Sadly this is probably caused as the average chief constable is as in touch with reality as a high court judge. Guarded and cosseted so that real life and poor people are a far away concept of which they know nothing. The deployment of coppers to the average council estate is so similar to Blair ordering troops to foreign countries it's quite disturbing. Anyway, I just toppled off my soapbox so I'll slink away.... (for yet another beer!) Apologies for the rant, but I've just heard I'm not off to somewhere hot till next year at the earliest so I'm celebrating! |
Hmm. Well all the PSNI officers I have encountered have been shot at, at some time, or say they have. Certainly one in particular I recall, we were in a range car park chatting, awaiting our slot when a volley went off downrange and he hit the deck pretty quick!  It's not so much whether we get shot at a lot, or threatened by any other lethal force come to that, as to being in a position to do something about it when we or others are. In 23 years of carrying a 'stick' I've only had occasion/cause to use it once for it's intended purpose (and yes I've been front-line operational for all of that time). |
Needless to say, I was referring to 'post troubles'… although even during the troubles regular villians rarely went tooled up… tended to be a short carrer choice. And as to carrying a 'stick'… I'll bet you don't get the 'lip' that ordinary bods do. |
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Sorry if I caused confusion. By 'stick' I mean either a wooden truncheon or the metal telescopic ASP baton that we now carry. I have used the latter once against a bloke trying to reshape my head with rocks. The most common use is breaking windows to gain entry. I dare say I get as much lip as any other street bobby. It's how you deal with it that usually determines the final result. |