Should British Police Be Armed?

The Cops TV show we see here in Sweden seems to show that a Taser (Tazer?) is very effective and far less dangerous.

I personally would not want to see every Police officer carrying a gun, The current system of having specialist units that can be called upon when needed seems a far better idea to me.

If we were to arm all police officers we would run the risk of putting thousands of under trained trigger happy or nervous men and women on our streets, that’s not going to reduce crime and could lead to many innocent deaths,their is also an argument to say it would worsen crime as the criminals would also carry more weapons to defend themselves.

In the cities of Britain at least I think you can be very certain you are not that far away from a Police unit carrying guns, But its not as in your face as it maybe in other countries and lets hope it stays that way.

Yes, I think they should be, providing that weapons are used to disable people rather than to kill them!

I had a relative who was a police officer up until a few years ago and some of the stories she came home with were pretty disturbing. On one occasion, when attempting to arrest a man, he pulled a syringe from his pocket and threatened to use it as a weapon. Perhaps not the most dangerous weapon in the world but when the man is known to be HIV-positive, it makes you appreciate the seriousness of the situation. Whilst the use of a weapon might not have been necessary, he might have reacted to this arrest differently had the police officers were armed.

Yes but only if they shoot Rapists, Paedo’s ,and……………
oh yes Motorbike thieves Grrrr..

I suspect rather more of the Police are armed than we think.

Regards,

kev35

Judging by their past record definitely not ! fire arms should only be used against people who pee in telephone boxes and and doorways and scrotes who attempt to steal my car !…not necessarily in that order !

I can think of more high risk areas.

No,except in high-risk areas like airports.

Simple answer from me is no.
Carry a weapon and become a target. I also agree that they seem to do ok as is thanks.