From: "IG", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
OK, now everyone, including me, has had the chance to sound of and get
things off their chest. Take a step back and look at things from all angles.
ARV crews are volunteers. They have to perform normal duties alongside their
armed role and switch from one to the other at the drop of a hat. Having
read many of the posts, I can single out various comments, such as the one
that alleges the ARV teams in his area openly brag about it in the pub after
a few beers. That is appalling and, if true, should be the subject of an
official complaint. In my area, they would all be dismissed form the unit.
Has anyone ever asked themselves what law gives the police in the UK the
power to carry firearms?
S54 of the '68 act gives crown servants exemption from the need to possess a
firearms certificate. S3 CLA gives ANYONE the right to use reasonable force,
as does s117 of PACE. Common law also gives the right to ANYONE to use
reasonable force.
The judicial system in this country means that an inquest is held to
determine the cause of death of a person when it has not been certified by a
doctor, i.e. after an illness in hospital. The type of inquest can range
from an appointment with the coroner to a full blown hearing before a jury,
as all deaths involving the police MUST do by law. If the inquest finds that
the death was unlawful, the coroner can order a person to be indicted. That
power has been used, but usually the CPS will have pre-empted this and
charged the persons believed responsible. They will NOT be anonymous under
these circumstances. Contrary to the popular belief displayed by
correspondents here, there are set and rigorous procedures that an officer
will be subjected to if he or she is involved in a shooting. They will be
treated as a murder suspect. No special treatment here, the same
investigation will be done.
Everyone has had their go now, how about some constructive ideas on less
than lethal options, types of training, equipment, etc. The police have
always taken their skills from the civilian world. That door is now closed.
There is so much antagonism between police and shooters that everyone tends
to forget that there are many officers who are private shooters and have
suffered in the same way as everyone else. Likewise, there are many officers
who play the political correctness game.
Any ideas and constructiveness will be greatly received.
IG
--
Not all ARV teams switch between duties, the Met, West Mids and GMP all
have permanent armed officers. There are different categories of
AFOs. One intriguing statistic is that as far as I have been able
to discover, when AFOs encounter armed criminals in the commission
of a crime (pretty rare event), they are more often than not, unarmed!
Most AFOs are detectives and the like who are only issued firearms
under certain circumstances, they're not all riding around in
Range Rovers with an MP5 slung across their chest.
Suggestions I have - JHPs instead of SPs, and bean bag shotgun
rounds. Also more training on the use of the pistol. And in fact,
more _use_ of the pistol as I fail to see the reason behind coppers
carrying semi-auto MP5s which are in essence, big pistols. And if
we are going to have coppers riding around in Range Rovers, enough
of this idiotic policy of having the guns locked in a box. I
remember something on the TV showing two Nottingham officers having
to unlock a box and take out their revolvers.
If they are supposedly trained in the use of a firearm, surely they
are capable of carrying one without accidentally shooting
themselves?
And it would be quite nice if AFOs are trained to recognise guns,
instead of shooting people with walking sticks, table legs and
so on. And those deadly flocks of pigeons, of course.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
___________________________________________________________
T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
