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Post #121Yes. All police officers should be armed. They are there to protect the people, and what if the criminal has a gun? Then they won't be able to. As far as the some officers' demands to not have firearms on duty goes, it should be compulsory to carry a firearm as a police officer. If they don't like it, they may quit.
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I agree in that crime should explore the idea of prevention, having said that. Walk up to any sterotypcal thug and convince them that "cops are awesome", good luck. Their kids will be raised the same way.
MY point, is that by unarming them, you won't lower crime. The fact that police officers would be even LESS powerful, would only propagate more crime, and if a criminal has a weapon, well there isn't anything the police can do about it. They get roughly 20-30 minutes of free time before a tac team shows up, (or if you're where I live, about 50-60 minutes for our regional swat team). It's not a last ditch effort for stopping crime, that's what the death penalty is for. Armed officers is a precaution to give officers a better ability to STOP a crime when/if one is happening. It's a tool to help the officer by himself, rather than "ok I need a swat team because I can't do anything about this 16 year old that's messing around with a bb gun"
If we're talking about going back in time to never arming street police officers, maybe. But currently, not arming officers is just a stupid idea (especially in US of A).
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-snip wrong thread-
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afaik tasers are issues to AFOs as well.
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Honestly, the basic idea of a police force is to protect an area's citizens. Guns or other weapons may make people uneasy, but that's the point. An armed society is a polite society, and that goes for the police force too.
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Should every police officer be armed: No, only if he wants to be.
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Hi guys,
It's been awhile since I've seen this thread in here and I think I'm going to revisit this topic.
Crime Prevention
Before any cop goes and busts down doors, or anything else cool in the job, you must know crime prevention. And, for the most part, crimes CAN be prevented, but it is at the citizens fault if they occur, not the police. The police are a reactive force. Crime prevention is their attempt at being proactive.
I have an entire speech written on Neighborhood watch, and Operation ID. I recommend everyone looks into both. Most of this information is provided to you free-of-charge at your local law enforcement agency. You can find that speech here
You're not going to convince anyone by talking to them that the police are good. You have to show them. You have to have positive interactions with them.
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Armament / Escalation of Arms
There was a time in US history when police officers didnt have guns. That was because no one else had a gun. There was no need for it. Since that early time in history, guns have been a prevalent part of our history, and will remain to be a part of our future.
It comes down to criminals.
When the criminals get handguns, the police get handguns. When they start having bigger weapons (like those used in the N Hollywood Shootout), the police get bigger weapons (in that case, AR15s).
Furthermore, it is an officers last resort to shoot someone. Officers are humans, not robots. They have emotions. Many officers that are involved in a shooting often never return to the field to work because of the trauma that it left scared in their brain. They will always opt for a different tool when given the correct threat and possibilities. Building on that, when the officer does have to discharge his weapon, he is to aim center mass and continue to shoot until the threat is no more. Keep in mind they have about a 11% accuracy rate. (A good article here on that subject)
Arming Officers is a last-ditch effort
Its not. Officers face unimaginable things in the field. Every car you stop, every door you knock on, every person you talk to could be the last one because someone is having a bad day and decides to brandish a weapon and shoot you. (A documentary called Heroes Behind The Badge addresses this)
SWAT (MAAG in some areas)
** MAAG = Mutual Aid Assistance Group
Unlike the movies and TV shows, SWAT takes for. fucking. ever. to show up. This is because they go through their own briefing and gear up. As mentioned before, it can take 30-90 minutes for them. They're a great tool when they arrive, but thats often too slow for the problem at hand.
The US is not like the UK
Elsewhere in the world, they have very strict gun control. No guns readily available to the citizens makes policing easier since you can remove the weapon from the officer (since he/she is highly unlikely to encounter a weapon like so). Contrary, the US has more guns than you can count. Everyone has a gun. When everyone has a gun, the officers need a gun because they are of high risk to encounter such a weapon on a regular basis.
Should officers be armed?
Yes.
Disclaimer: Anything I said or mentioned beforehand should be taken as credible legal advice. If you have questions regarding laws contact your local department.
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I feel as though they should have a weapon in a vehicle that's near them if they don't feel as though they want to be carrying it on their bodies at all times.
I think police do need to carry weapons though, a baton isn't good enough and more often than not they do actually get swiped off the officer, I know a guy who was selling a police issue tazer before. I think less criminal activity would actually happen if people knew the police meant srs business. People would feel safer on the streets knowing there was a police officer near that could deal with a situation properly rather than just dicking about and trying to 'talk' their way out of criminal activity and restraining criminals.
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If police officers are allowed to carry weapons, civilians should be allowed to conceal weapons also. I like the way America handles firearms, and I wish it was similar over here in UK.
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I'd rather not thanks muchly. Arming everyone doesn't solve the issues that cause crime and violence, it just makes everyone fear everyone. Not knowing who has a weapon on them is not pleasant, sure we have that now in a way, but that would be multiplied by an obscene magnitude if it was legal to carry weapons.
I think I posted in here earlier, can't remember now. Anyway, I've never seen the point in arming every officer on the beat. As aeroplop posted, there is an arms race between cops and criminals. Right now criminals who do get firearms and weapons are stuck to things like knives (fairly easy to find someone who uses them due to DNA all over everything), and shotguns (so rare in public that you kinda stick out and can be tracked down quickly). Should every officer start carrying, I expect criminals will start wanting to carry more concealable and powerful weapons.
Armed units I have no issue with, they are specialist units trained, and prepared for, armed combat in a variety of situation. They aren't on the streets all the time, so criminals feel less like they need to one-up the police. The ones who do require these units tend to be either pretty messed up individuals, gangs, or at least somewhat organised.
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If everyone had a gun, it would be the wild west all over again. Your average patrolling cop does not have a squad of SWAT behind him at all times. He needs a weapon to defend himself if the situation arises.
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America, making it so only other Americans can kill Americans.
Police officers only need guns in areas where they are likely to encounter a threat with a gun. It's a simple risk/reward situation. Why give a LEA a gun when the odds of it doing a better job than the other tools available are low?
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The problem arises that we dont know when we're likely to encounter a gun since they're pretty prevalent.
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In Russia we have got all the police that arrive on 911 calls armed with pistols, guards patrolling the underground or some highly populated and dangerous places armed with only batons and some officers armed with compact AK's.
I am perfectly fine with that taking in account what shit they have to deal with. Not that they have to use a firearm every day, but the fact that they can makes people respect them a little bit more.
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Even though you said that you are pro-guns, go watch any video in which an officer is killed, honestly to-date I cannot say I have seen one video in which an officer was in his car when he was killed, it was outside of his car, and in police shootings where the officers prevailed, it was only because they were immediately able to return fire after drawing their gun. Bullets fly WAY too fast to have the leisurely time of running back to your car to get a gun. They have a simi-auto m4 or shotgun in their vehicles most of the time, but this is only when they have been able to already return fire and retreat, or know about the threat ahead of time, not after being shot upon with no way to return fire.
Debatable. Officers are sworn to protect everyday citizens, and many of them do so with their lives, why would civilians need guns, to protect themselves from the police? That's the argument I just heard you make. Secondly, our conceal carry requirements are utter shit. Anybody here in the US can get a concealed carry permit if having met certain requirements (which honestly are piss-poor terrible, I could make the requirements with my eyes closed.) It's not about arming civilians, it's about allowing responsible gun owners to protect themselves, and to be honest, most of them aren't responsible, the only reason half of the imbeciles are allowed carry a gun legally, is because our constitution grants us a right to bear arms, but half of them couldn't use a gun to save their life anyways. We need to be stripping people of their weapons rights if they can't operate one efficiently, combine terrible shooters with our black market and there is no way you can expect an efficient law enforcement force that isn't armed, period.
Off-Topic: Our Carry and Conceal Weapons requirements here in Missouri is one of the strictest in the nation. (valid in ~40 states), you have to shoot 10 rounds out of a Ruger .22, and a Revolver .22, at 7 yards, and you have to hit the BLACK SILHOUETTE on a b-27 target (which is bigger than an average person mind you) 15/20 times. IMHO, you should have to do that at 25 yards, or make a certain point requirement at 7 yards, because that can be shot with one hand, blindfolded, by most people I know.
