armed police force

[Matchew]

It's recently becoming more topical in Ireland at the moment, but is it really neccesary, are guns the answer to problems with public order? I have only one view as I have never experienced armed police in everyday life. Does it work?, is it reliable? how many die each year due to shootings by armed police?

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Hmm, didn't Yufster start a similar topic some time ago? It was a pretty interesting debate, if you search for it you might enjoy reading it.

[TerranRich]

All of the police in the U.S. are armed, so it's not really a big deal to people here. I didn't realize other countries might not use guns on their police forces.

[TheYak]

I realized that other countries didn't regularly use guns but didn't realize there were countires considering switching over. 

My impression is that the US has more gun-toting criminals that pose a threat to the average citizen than some of the countires that haven't required firearms.  An US update: San Francisco votes this year on whether to have a gun ban or not.  I don't recall the specifics of the deal but I think it's an all-out private ownership ban. 

Matchew, I've heard anecdotes about citizens being killed by policemen but these seem to be fairly rare news stories.  As far as accidental (non-warranted) shootings, they don't seem to happen often.  Policemen are merely people and as with all people, you have some that can behave responsibly and some that are more prone to violence or errors in judgement.  If I had my choice, we wouldn't have any guns in the US (criminals, citizens or otherwise) but I realize it's not realistic at this point.  So, I'd rather the people enforcing our rules and protecting the citizens are able to defend themselves.  If Ireland's got policemen unable to cope with the criminal element, then perhaps it's time.  If so, it's a regrettable necessary evil.

[Pumaman]

The argument against arming the police goes that if the police are armed, then criminals are more likely to arm themselves in case the police turn up, which eventually ends up with a situation where there are far more armed criminals than before the police were given weapons.

It also follows that if the police have guns, the criminals are more likely to shoot at them and therefore you end up with more bloodshed all round.

I can largely see the logic to this, and I wouldn't want to see all the police having guns. It's a very difficult decision to make because once you've made the move to arm them, it's not really possible to go back for the reasons mentioned above.

[Sam.]

here in manchester we don't need guns for our police, we have TEH LAZ0RS!
http://www.thenewsherald.com/stories/042804/loc_20040428125.shtml




well, tazers. im not sure if this will work though, because sooner or later somebody on the worng side is going to get one, or an aluminum factory will get burned down.

[TheYak]

We had an incident in the US where a tazer killed someone.  A big stink was made about how the company claimed they were absolutely non-lethal.  I believe the victim had heart problems before the incident.  Somehow, people here jumped on the company/police force for discovering that tazers aren't 100% non-lethal but rather 98% or so, yet ignore the fact that every time one is used, it probably prevents the use of a firearm with a much higher lethality rate.

[Sam.]

I apologise for course language, but thats fucking stupid. Kicking up a stink because there was one accident with a tazer, does this mean that guns are less accident prone? that less people die when they are hit by a bullet? IM sorry, but the mdeia whipping themselves up into a frenzy about anything is so anoying. It like saying, oh a man died by falling down his stairs, stairs sould be made illegal, and elevators, in fact, buildings with more than one story.

[scotch]

Actually, quite a number of people have been killed by tazers.  And people are concerned that they are sometimes used in situations where a gun carrying policeman would not consider using their weapon, because of the impression they are non lethal.  Still, I think they are a much better choice than guns, for the UK at least.  I'm not sure how effective they are though, apparently they won't go through thick clothing among other problems.

The system we have now is fine, imo, no armed police, except specially trained armed units to deal with gun crime.  A crack down on the increasing gun problem would be good, before it does become completely necessary to arm city police forces.

[Squinky]

Tazers can go through 2 inches of clothing, I know, I've been shot with one....

I took an instructor course for my job, and let me tell you, tazers friggin hurt. It's basically like torture, and I can't emphasize how much it hurts, its not like normal electrical shock either, its on a frequency that tells your brain to contract your muscles, like 19 times per second....it is horrible.....

But still better than the Pepper spray I have, that stuff burns for a whole day it seems....

As far as guns, I don't like them, I often wish we never had invented them.....I carry one at work, but I hate it truthfully.

[Sam.]

squink, are you a policeman? or a drugs baron?

[Las Naranjas]

He's a security guard, for aliens.

Whenever the police shoot someone dead here, someone high up in the police force loses their job in an enquiry.

[Andail]

I apologise for course language, but thats fucking stupid. Kicking up a stink because there was one accident with a tazer, does this mean that guns are less accident prone? that less people die when they are hit by a bullet? IM sorry, but the mdeia whipping themselves up into a frenzy about anything is so anoying. It like saying, oh a man died by falling down his stairs, stairs sould be made illegal, and elevators, in fact, buildings with more than one story.

I believe old people falling in various ways is the number one death reason all categories. Or car crashes, for that matter. With your reasoning, we should allow atomic bombs as well, cause they sure ain't as dangerous as cars.

As someone pointed out, giving cops "less" dangerous weapons does in fact encourage them to use them more freely. Since our cops got pepper spray cans, we've had a number of excessive violence-cases in Sweden. They spray first, then negotiate.

During the riots in Gothenburg a few years ago, they shot a young man who nearly died. It's not like he was completely innocent or something - but at that point, he wasn't posing a threat to any police officer. They shot him from quite a distance, and he was alone and unarmed.

Whenever I say I hate weapons, people just call me naïve, because they have been taught that weapons are a natural part of our society.

[Sam.]

Of course, i don't think atomic bombs shouldn't be allowed, i think weapons shouldn't be a form of law enforcement at all, but surely if less people die from tazers thna guns, it a good thing right? Maybe there should be some kind of training to make sure that tazers are a last last resort. I was just using the stair analogy as it is something we need but it still causes accidents.

[Haddas]

http://media.ebaumsworld.com/negligence.mpg

[Squinky]

squink, are you a policeman? or a drugs baron?

I work in a jail. It sucks trust me.