Should Police officers be armed?

[Jordy]

You arm the police and you arm the criminals.

I know people'll say "there are already loads of guns" but i think we'd see far more if the police were armed as criminals see them as fair game and they'll feel more threatened.

This has always been my line of thinking, I think we'd see gun crime rise throughout the UK and like Gomme said, they could easily be stolen etc.

Above all though it's unnecessary and incredibly costly, other than this, can someone else justify to me in the past year when the police having weapons could have stopped other murders. I don't think the police can even be trusted with tasers as it is, I've heard the odd story about them being unnecessarily used so with guns, the chances of mis-use is ever greater and more dangerous. But yeah they'd have to purchase an enormous amount of weapons and retrain all police officers which would cost tens of millions of pounds, maybe even hundreds of millions. There's no real threat in the UK, so why fix something which isn't broken when we're already in lots of debt

I also find it quite intimidating seeing officers with guns whether this be in airports, city centres or abroad. I might get used to it I suppose if all officers were armed but I always feel a lot less safe around guns no matter who's wielding it.

[Swastika]

Yes and no.
Like Jordy said i do feel abit wiery(sp?) when im around police officers who carry guns, but at the same time i do feel safe. Strangely enough i hate going near armed officers at UK airports because in my mind, i know that the chunk of metal he is holding in his hands could kill me at any time. To be honest i don't believe alot of people in urban areas in the UK trust the police at the present time, nevermind with them wielding weapons that could kill in an instant. Alot of UK officers abuse their powers and think they're better than the average citizen and giving them a gun would increase this, having said that - there are alot of officers too who are professionals and are not hellbent on being the superior person.
I can just imagine ALOT of mistakes being made by Brit cops and its not something i want to see, but at the same time it would make a huge difference if its done accordingly and properly.
I'm sure it would work 100% if the task of giving UK officers guns was done properly.

[Black_Apalachi]

Should be the same as America.

[Swastika]

Should be the same as America.

No, just no.

[xxMATTGxx]

I'm in the middle, 50/50 on this. I feel that they should be armed in such cases of these and other situations unarmed Police officers come across. It would also be an added protection to us, although I feel that if all Police are armed it might give the image that the general public should also arm themselves with weapons. I know that they are all armed in the USA but there is a good reasons for that.

[Grig]

It's common sense. Why in the world would a polcie officer go to such pursuits unarmed, it is quit silly logic. ALL police here in Hong Kong are.

[Jordy]

It's common sense. Why in the world would a polcie officer go to such pursuits unarmed, it is quit silly logic. ALL police here in Hong Kong are.

Glad to see the debating manager getting involved by just calling it common sense :p

In the UK there are only a few incidents with firearms every day (Very few are fatal) and all of these incidents are attended by a special squad of armed police found in each county.

[Bun]

without a doubt, how are the police supposed to inforce the law when they would feel the most threatend in a gun crime situation?

[Eckuii]

By the time the police get to most knife crime related scenes, the person suspected has disappeared. You aren't exactly going to hang about now, nevermind if you give them a gun.

The guy your talking about in Cumbria had a gun license for 20 years with no problems, then one day something went wrong in his mind and he went and shot 12 people. Why trust however many police officers with a gun when something psychological could go wrong with them when they are in pocession of that gun.

Imagine a police guy carrying a gun on him and going in to a hostile environment thats very crowded. What happens if somebody manages to take that gun off them? Another Policeman/woman will end up shot dead.

The first time the Police drew their gun in a situation which wasn't needed, they would undoubtfully get fully slated for it. The gun legislation in the UK is too tight to have every tom **** and harry running around with a gun, whether they are in the police or not. If a armed officer fires his weapon, he is not allowed to fire that weapon for another year until a full investigation takes place. There would end up being no Police on the streets with the problems in Britain. lol.

[Becca]

I don't think police should have guns. If they're armed then they should be trained enough to not use death force on them to make a harder situation.