19-05-2016, 05:47 PM
Pretty much related to this - the threat of a Mumbai/Paris in Brit, and the recently reported "fewer armed cops in Brit now, than in 1987", there was this - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006th08.../downloads - on Radio4 t'other day :
"Police Firepower - File on 4 Police forces in England and Wales are to get an additional fifteen hundred firearms officers to help protect the public from terrorism and organised crime.
Most of the new officers will be trained within the next two years after the Prime Minister, David Cameron, set aside £143m to boost the country's armed response capability.
But is it enough to meet the challenges they face?
The number of firearms officers fell from nearly seven thousand in 2009/10 to under six thousand in 2013/14.
And, despite the extra funding, the Police Federation is concerned the new firearms teams will have to come from existing staff. They say that will deplete the number of officers available for other duties.
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw investigates - and he examines growing unease at the way in which those who discharge their weapons are dealt with.
Concern has been highlighted by the suspension and arrest of the officer suspected of shooting dead Jermaine Baker in Wood Green in December.
Police representatives tell the programme that while they expect their actions to be investigated, people will not come forward to train as firearms officers if they believe they will be treated like a criminal who fires an illegal weapon.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission acknowledges that firearms officers work in challenging circumstances but maintains that police shootings resulting in death or serious injury should be independently investigated.
So, can the system for holding them to account be improved?
Reporter: Danny Shaw Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane."
Thing is, as I tuned-in at c.15mins in, there was a fella on there, obviously ex-military, talking about how semi-auto police firearms aren't sufficient (paraphrase) "to win the weight-of-fire firefight"; what he was saying, is that it's necessary for armed cops to have full-auto military-spec weaps, (para-) "& if 4 or 5 civilians are killed to take-down the shooter, if 100-150 lives are saved, then that's ok", partly on the basis, it seemed, that "I've been under 7.62mm automatic machine-gun fire, & I can tell you, it's not very nice".
There was a distinct 'flava' of his having brought the army-in-his-head with him into the new role (police/govt advisor) with him. Struck me as being very 'I'm a self-indulgent hardman who paranoia projects"-type. I've never heard that sort of 'bold' speaking in Brit before & it struck that it was not being given sufficient attention, but that it might be a 'nice' 'tell'/reflection on the militarisation of civic policing.
"Police Firepower - File on 4 Police forces in England and Wales are to get an additional fifteen hundred firearms officers to help protect the public from terrorism and organised crime.
Most of the new officers will be trained within the next two years after the Prime Minister, David Cameron, set aside £143m to boost the country's armed response capability.
But is it enough to meet the challenges they face?
The number of firearms officers fell from nearly seven thousand in 2009/10 to under six thousand in 2013/14.
And, despite the extra funding, the Police Federation is concerned the new firearms teams will have to come from existing staff. They say that will deplete the number of officers available for other duties.
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw investigates - and he examines growing unease at the way in which those who discharge their weapons are dealt with.
Concern has been highlighted by the suspension and arrest of the officer suspected of shooting dead Jermaine Baker in Wood Green in December.
Police representatives tell the programme that while they expect their actions to be investigated, people will not come forward to train as firearms officers if they believe they will be treated like a criminal who fires an illegal weapon.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission acknowledges that firearms officers work in challenging circumstances but maintains that police shootings resulting in death or serious injury should be independently investigated.
So, can the system for holding them to account be improved?
Reporter: Danny Shaw Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane."
Thing is, as I tuned-in at c.15mins in, there was a fella on there, obviously ex-military, talking about how semi-auto police firearms aren't sufficient (paraphrase) "to win the weight-of-fire firefight"; what he was saying, is that it's necessary for armed cops to have full-auto military-spec weaps, (para-) "& if 4 or 5 civilians are killed to take-down the shooter, if 100-150 lives are saved, then that's ok", partly on the basis, it seemed, that "I've been under 7.62mm automatic machine-gun fire, & I can tell you, it's not very nice".
There was a distinct 'flava' of his having brought the army-in-his-head with him into the new role (police/govt advisor) with him. Struck me as being very 'I'm a self-indulgent hardman who paranoia projects"-type. I've never heard that sort of 'bold' speaking in Brit before & it struck that it was not being given sufficient attention, but that it might be a 'nice' 'tell'/reflection on the militarisation of civic policing.
Martin Luther King - "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Albert Camus - "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion".
Douglas MacArthur — "Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."
Albert Camus - "Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."
Albert Camus - "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion".
Douglas MacArthur — "Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."
Albert Camus - "Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."