Meet Scotland yard's new Counter-Terrorism firearms officers

[Thəorətic Muslim]

There is real resistence within the UK's police forces to adopt firearms for every officer and it seems to me many are rather naive and looking back to a "golden time" where the "bobby" was armed with nothing but a baton and all was well. It strikes me as rather silly to pretend the UK is any different to the rest of the developed world where police officers are all armed.

The answer seems simple, recruit the thousands of discharged Soldiers.

But you do feel for these guys. No one wants to walk around with a AR-15 let alone a M-60. Each escalation will result in a greater escalation equaling "firearms creep".

And perhaps this stems from the London Riots, where an unarmed man was shot and killed. A firearm does give the sense of invincibility. But also a liability in a fist fight with a drunken man. Many American Officers do state that in altercations they feel just the removal of their Glock is a mixed blessing, one of being able to contain a situation to one where the stakes are raised.

As an outsider, as do many Americans, consider the UK to be relatively "safe". Sure there was the beheading, and London bombings, but since then not many terrorist attacks. Definitely no "no-go zones"?

 

[Abingdonboy]

The answer seems simple, recruit the thousands of discharged Soldiers.

It seems like an obvious solution especially considering how bleak the career prospects are for a lot of our servicemen and that they have a truly appaling incarceration and suicide rate.

However, the fact remains that this govt is NOT interested in spending more on the police, they have made sweeping cuts in the past 5 years and as I have pointed out above this photo-op is purely a PR exercise, a band-aid. Increasing the police force by the levels you suggest is simply not an option they will consider until it is too late...

Sure there was the beheading,

An incident that shows just how important it is to have the police be armed. On that day the response time for armed police was enough for the animals to calmy pace around and pose for cameras before the ARVs finally turned up. Imagine if they had had guns and intentions to kill the public.

 

[Zarvan]

Finally London is waking up and they need to take this to other cities also and Pakistan also needs to learn this from them and other following same suit and develop this unit. In fact what I think is Pakistan needs to have at least 250 to 300 Police Officers in every Police Station out of which 30 should be trained as quick response force and they should be equipped like this. So if we have 20 Police Stations in Lahore than we would have combine force of 600 Quick Response Force or even can have more. As for other Police Man for them we need to select new versions of AK and every Police man should be trained to fire that AK. @waz

 

[Echo_419]

According to the Elites, U.K exists in London only, the rest of us are trash. Just look at the North of England and compare it with the South. We had the Tories that destroyed the industries that were the livelihood of the North and forced thousands on the dole, some communities have never recovered. It's the same now with security.

In Yes, Prime Minister they describe Northern England as some sort of 3rd world shit hole

 

[Pakistani E]

In Yes, Prime Minister they describe Northern England as some sort of 3rd world shit hole

No that's east London.

 

[livingdead]

Well this is the big question isn't it?

There is real resistence within the UK's police forces to adopt firearms for every officer and it seems to me many are rather naive and looking back to a "golden time" where the "bobby" was armed with nothing but a baton and all was well. It strikes me as rather silly to pretend the UK is any different to the rest of the developed world where police officers are all armed.

In London the armed response times are arond 7-8 minuets from what I have heard, outside of London it will be far more and outside of any Town/City it is going to be >30-40 minuets (not too long ago there was an armed seige near where I live in Oxfordshire where it took around 50 minuets for armed officers to arrive on the scene).

We are only at the very start of what is going to be a very bloody and long lasting war and I suspect we will regret not taking even the most logical preventative steps when we had the chance. The UK has sent one of the highest numbers of animals to fight for ISIS and it is now only a matter of time before the war begins on the homefront, the "Islander" mentalitly of some Brits is not going to save us.

most policemen dont want to bear arms because they are not mentally prepared and dont see it being useful in their day to day job. they see armed police as a specialized police dedicated to specific type of response.
Its not just a matter of handing out guns to police.
considering how less armed UK is in general, I think they are right. The armed police is always there to support.
The terrorism thing is overblown, and in any case the best way to fight terror is good intelligence... and good relation with community... you dont want to be a gun totting d*ck and lose support of people.(which will happen if every policeman gets a gun).

@Abingdonboy @waz I was wondering something.
-
Let's say there are multiple terrorist attacks and hostage situations outside London and greater London,how could unarmed officers cordon,block the area and contain the terrorists ?
How minutes would it take to armed officers,let alone counter terrorism operators to reach the area ?

It's good if London cops are armed,that counter terrorism units are ready to intervene within short notice,but what about the rest of the country ?

all police forces have firearm units, not specifically London.

 

[Menace2Society]

Always best to be well prepared.