Police cleared in Mark Duggan shooting as jury record verdict of "lawful killing"

[Ace Nova]

I've never seen an armed cop patrolling in my life.

That's the way I really thought it was.....that's why I'm asking all the questions....and rather confused.....

[Tater Totts]

I've never seen an armed cop patrolling in my life.

Difficult to see them when you've been shoved in the back seat

[DieselDaisy]

It does depend where you live though, never seen any armed police in my hometown or Canterbury when I was at Uni and the few times I have seen them was in London which makes sense. They will be deployed primarily in areas where there is more trouble.

Visions of armed cops in Cantebury haha. Keep the Canterbury 'hood' in order.

[Dazey]

I've never seen an armed cop patrolling in my life.

That's the way I really thought it was.....that's why I'm asking all the questions....and rather confused.....

I've seen them occasionally at special events/sports events etc but never on simple routine patrol anywhere.

[Tater Totts]

It does depend where you live though, never seen any armed police in my hometown or Canterbury when I was at Uni and the few times I have seen them was in London which makes sense. They will be deployed primarily in areas where there is more trouble.

Visions of armed cops in Cantebury haha. Keep the Canterbury 'hood' in order.

Hey man, the tourists and pensioners can get rather rowdy

[DieselDaisy]

I can only say what I have seen. I have seen two patroling armed cops on about 2-3 occasions, patroling Northumberland Street. I mean even if you do not believe me, we have already clarified that we have them at airports, train stations and sporting events. Can we really sustain the pretence that we have un-armed cops?

[Tater Totts]

But seeing them on 2-3 occasions is far different to constant patrols which is what your first post hinted at, yes we don't have unarmed cops but it isn't like all of them are packing heavy weapons.

[DieselDaisy]

I however rarely visit Northumberland Street. This could be from, circa five visits. I visit Newcastle a lot but avoid the high street like the plague. I would accept your logic if I was on the high street five days per week, every week. Besides, presumably seeing them 2-3 times on a non-sporting day means they have the prerogative to visit, 365 days a year if they so wished. Seeing them, just once, signifies that fact.

So we have already established that they have been seen in London, Newcastle (if you believe me, if not, fair enough), major sporting events (of which we have many in this country), train stations and all major airports. Also, every cop carries a tazer. Also, do not forget the armed cops protecting government buildings (e.g. Downing Street and the Commons).

Still think we are unarmed?

I simply do not know why we keep up this façade that British police are, unarmed. I am not saying every cop carries a revolver and a shotgun in the boot like America, but I cannot see why we maintain this ridiculous charade. September the 11th was the key date of course. It gave the Police permission to curb civil liberties and clonk heads. Look at what happened to that poor Brazilian guy. It is absurd to pretend that we have unarmed police in light of major embarrasing (internationally) incidents like that.

[bran]

here where i live in the US, cops patrol with their side arm, and a taser/pepper spray. there is usually a shotgun in the front of the patrol car. i heard most cars have an assault rifle in the trunk of the car. i dont know how true the last one is but i know in california all police officers have to have an assault rifle in the trunk, this was implemented after the north hollywood shootout in the 90's.

in my town i have never seen patrolling cops on foot, once in a while in the summer time you will see some cops on bicycles(one time i saw one hit a guard rail and went flying over his handlebars ) big cities have walking patrols like in philadelphia,boston,nyc. shootings up where i live are rare, usually there is a stabbing here and there but not much in terms of shootings.

where i live we have open carry without a permit and we also have concealed carry with a permit, so i think sometimes this stops the police from being over the line assholes and threatening people because you never know who might be packing a gun.

Edited January 8, 2014 by bran

[Tater Totts]

Dude, I never said the police here were still unarmed, I merely stated that in comparison to America they are still pretty lightly armed and that armed cops are more prevalent in troubled areas and rarer in quieter areas. They go where they are needed but don't hang around on every street.

[ADPT]

I've never seen an armed cop patrolling in my life.

Neither have I.

Armed police at airports, yes. But that's been the case for quite some time I'm pretty sure. I remember seeing them in the 90's as a kid.

I've never seen armed police at train stations or sporting events.

All police don't carry tazers either. http://www.acpo.police.uk/ThePoliceChiefsBlog/201302TaserBlog.aspx

Of course, all police are 'armed' in that they carry a baton. Usually now the telescopic ones that extend as you swing them.

[DieselDaisy]

They are always at Newcastle football matches, I can tell you that straight away.

[Tater Totts]

It's Newcastle, what do you expect

[ADPT]

They are always at Newcastle football matches, I can tell you that straight away.

Really? Why? The only reason I could think of would be to do with terrorism. Or stopping people punching horses...

Edited January 8, 2014 by ADPT

[bran]

as a little side question to all of this. for people in the UK is there any real push or any real momentum for the civilians to get some kind of gun rights back? something i have been wondering, i read a report where a british poll said most brits would welcome the ability to have guns.

[Ace Nova]

here where i live in the US, cops patrol with their side arm, and a taser/pepper spray. there is usually a shotgun in the front of the patrol car. i heard most cars have an assault rifle in the trunk of the car. i dont know how true the last one is but i know in california all police officers have to have an assault rifle in the trunk, this was implemented after the north hollywood shootout in the 90's.

in my town i have never seen patrolling cops on foot, once in a while in the summer time you will see some cops on bicycles(one time i saw one hit a guard rail and went flying over his handlebars ) big cities have walking patrols like in philadelphia,boston,nyc. shootings up where i live are rare, usually there is a stabbing here and there but not much in terms of shootings.

where i live we have open carry without a permit and we also have concealed carry with a permit, so i think sometimes this stops the police from being over the line assholes and threatening people because you never know who might be packing a gun.

In Philly the cops patrolled on horses during special events (always very much armed)....

But the British have answered my question....from the sounds of it.....the police (in general) rarely patrol with arms in the U.K. (Unless it's a special event, sports event, etc).....which means they had reasonable cause to have arms when trying to attain this suspect.....which....long story short....sorry to say it.....the guy must have been scary....at least to the extent of scaring the police.

[Dazey]

as a little side question to all of this. for people in the UK is there any real push or any real momentum for the civilians to get some kind of gun rights back? something i have been wondering, i read a report where a british poll said most brits would welcome the ability to have guns.

I just don't think it's even a thing that 99% of us even think about. Very much a non issue as far as I can see it.

[Tater Totts]

as a little side question to all of this. for people in the UK is there any real push or any real momentum for the civilians to get some kind of gun rights back? something i have been wondering, i read a report where a british poll said most brits would welcome the ability to have guns.

Never in any conversations I have had involving guns has anyone expressed a desire to have more guns in the UK.

In fact it is quite easy to get a gun, you just need to go through the correct channels to get a gun license which can be a time consuming process. For now I would say the system we have at the moment works fine and I wouldn't change it.

[ADPT]

as a little side question to all of this. for people in the UK is there any real push or any real momentum for the civilians to get some kind of gun rights back? something i have been wondering, i read a report where a british poll said most brits would welcome the ability to have guns.

You can still have guns, as part of a sports club or as a farmer or under certain under circumstances. My uncle has one and manufactures his own ammunition. There's been some call to loosen legislation, mainly to do with sports shooting I believe but having rights to the extent of the US? I don't think so. I'm not sure we ever had gun rights to that extent and I really don't think most British people want it.

[bran]

as a little side question to all of this. for people in the UK is there any real push or any real momentum for the civilians to get some kind of gun rights back? something i have been wondering, i read a report where a british poll said most brits would welcome the ability to have guns.

You can still have guns, as part of a sports club or as a farmer or under certain under circumstances. My uncle has one and manufactures his own ammunition. There's been some call to loosen legislation, mainly to do with sports shooting I believe but having rights to the extent of the US? I don't think so. I'm not sure we ever had gun rights to that extent and I really don't think most British people want it.

thanks for the response.

as for the extent i was thinking more along the lines of maybe having a handgun for home protection, that kind of thing.

[Dazey]

thanks for the response.

as for the extent i was thinking more along the lines of maybe having a handgun for home protection, that kind of thing.

Again I would say that the thought wouldn't even cross the mind of most people. It's a completely alien concept to most of us who've never used or even seen a gun in many instances.

[Tater Totts]

thanks for the response.

as for the extent i was thinking more along the lines of maybe having a handgun for home protection, that kind of thing.

Again I would say that the thought wouldn't even cross the mind of most people. It's a completely alien concept to most of us who've never used or even seen a gun in many instances.

Indeed, you can't miss what you've never had.

[Ace Nova]

Indeed, you can't miss what you've never had.

Although I tend to lean with the left (progressive) when it comes to gun control laws.....I was born and brought up among firearms. From the earliest days that I can remember....I remember my Grandfather shooting his shotgun....and my Father always had at least two or three of them in the closet somewhere.

But they were the epitome of responsibility. They would never allow me to go near them and I wasn't allowed to fire one until I was 13.

[Dazey]

But they were the epitome of responsibility. They would never allow me to go near them and I wasn't allowed to fire one until I was 13.

Which only further emphasises the cultural differences. To most Brits the thought of allowing a 13 year old anywhere near a firearm would make their blood run cold!

That said, if you take the word "gun" and replace it with the word "beer" then the reactions would be reversed I would imagine.

Edited January 8, 2014 by Dazey

[Ace Nova]

But they were the epitome of responsibility. They would never allow me to go near them and I wasn't allowed to fire one until I was 13.

Which only further emphasises the cultural differences. To most Brits the thought of allowing a 13 year old anywhere near a firearm would make their blood run cold!

That said, if you take the word "gun" and replace it with the word "beer" then the reactions would be reversed I would imagine.

The irony behind it all is that it happened when I was on summer holiday at my Grandfather's estate.....in Italy.....