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Well, the cop has to protect his little girlfriend....how the blazes is he supposed to do that
without anything on him for a weapon???
I mean, just one possible scenario, is all I'm saying.
You know what I mean......
Cops are just guys too. Nobody wants killed. I'm just saying..... |
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Arguments for:
Many criminals have weapons, it is irresponsible to send out policemen to deal with them unarmed.
Variations and details of this argument are the pro side.
Arguments against:
Criminals get weapons in response to policemen doing do, not the other way around. Evidence for and
against this claim and the one above form the crux of this debate. It is morally objectionable to
arm the police force, it leads to a dangerous precedent of bringing more guns into crime which risks
escalation. As Hidell has showed, arming policemen tends to cause them to use guns, and it is not
necessary to arm all the police. |
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As a police officer, you never know what you will come across in the course of your time of duty.
Therefore, you need to be prepared for anything and should always carry a weapon on you to protect
yourself. Police officers jobs are very dangerous at times and they need to be as prepared for that
instance as they possibly can. |
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Cops think like cops when on duty. Cops think like people when they're off duty. No one should have
a gun at all times, unless they will be in the proper mindset at all time. This is unlikely to
happen. |
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There are different categories of police officers and they ultimately serve differing functions. I
do not think that peace officers who stand around on Trafalgar Square and at other prominent urban
locations really need to carry weapons, as they are unlikely to find themselves faced with a
dangerous situation that they cannot handle. Most of the time, they are simply hassled by foreigners
and tourists who need directions or want to have a picture taken with them. A gun is really only
needed if someone poses a risk of physical harm to the officer, or to anyone else on the street. In
most cases, police who monitor public squares are more likely to deal with the homeless, drunks and
people who are distressed or prove to be rowdy. In these instances, there is no real need to carry a
gun.
I also do not believe that it is normally necessary for police officers who monitor drivers on roads
and enforce speed limits to carry guns on their person. Instead, they should have a gun tucked away
in their vehicle's glove compartment, but there is no reason to take this out and visibly wear it
when dealing with a soccer mom who was caught speeding while taking her son to a sporting event. The
only time that a traffic cop should have a weapon, is if he/she is dealing with someone who is
suspected of having drugs in his/her vehicle or who is believed to be under the influence of a
controlled substance. |
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I think it depends on the kind of criminal environment they face. If they routinely encounter armed
criminals, then, yes, they should have weapons themselves; if not; not.
The problem with giving all cops weapons is that, having them, they will be inclined to use them.
They may even get a thrill from using them. Situations that might have been defused without
violence, or with a minimum of violence, instead result in dead bodies.
We see examples of this, I think, in the USA where cops now routinely use tasers to "discipline" the
citizenry. Just speaking to a cop in a loud voice can get you tasered and the fact is that people
who are tasered often die. These are potentially fatal weapons but cops love to use them.
In theory, it might be possible to overcome these "over-eager" tendencies through rigorous training
and the prosecution of police officers who used their weapons without adequate provocation. In
practice, this is very difficult to do, not least because the police themselves are the first line
of the law and can spin their account of what happened, or even alter the evidence, to justify their
actions.
Britain copes reasonably well with unarmed police officers. If armed criminals are encountered,
special armed response units with highly trained officers are called out to deal with them. |
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24 Jun 2008 19:11
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