From: "Richard Loweth", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I think that the problem with many high ranking politicians is that (unlike
in USA) their bodyguards come from "plod", so these political figures are
surrounded by the apparently typical armed "plod" moron such as discharges a
gun on a Royal Train, shoots himself in the leg, fires his gun at a flock of
pigeons or is overcome by someone else's flatulence. I think that a
"Stockholm Syndrome" then develops between said Government minister and
"plod".
In the USA I don't think that one gets that as much, American "posters"
please comment, as the topmost echelon of American Government are protected
by the Secret Service.
Is it any wonder that Douglas Hurd, having been an Ulster Minister then
Foreign Office then Home Office seemed to have suffered, perhaps, from too
much sympathy with the police point-of-view (remember his speech to
Superintendent's Conference after Hungerford) whereas "new boy" Leon
Brittain seemed less of susceptible to "plod" canteen culture and b***s**t.
Any thoughts?
--
The DPS is a pretty elite unit, several members of which protested
the handgun ban because they practiced on their own time. Not all
of them are police officers, either, I am told.
To point to the Secret Service as the example to follow is a bit
farcical, I have been to the range with them and they are crap, to
put it mildly. 80% of the guys in the unit I was at the range with
couldn't get all the plates down, slow-fire, at a range of about
six yards without reloading (13 rounds) - and six yards is unsafe
for plates, which gives you another indication of how good they
are!
Doubtless the guys protecting the US President are elite Secret Service
agents who are a breed apart from the rest, but it's a matter of resources
more than mindset. I have been at the range with an FBI SWAT officer,
one of the HQ guys from the national squad, not a field office SWAT officer,
and he didn't seem that extraordinary to me in his gun handling skills.
The most elite law enforcement agency in the world as far as I am
concerned are the US Sky Marshalls, but you never hear about them.
Steve.
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