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Re: Violence in Spain
I was at East Midlands airport earlier in the year, standing in the check-in queue. In strolled two policemen dressed up like robocop carrying the biggest guns I've ever seen. They were just wandering casually around. Why? There clearly wasn't any threat. No-one approached them at all. Everyone stepped out of their way looking nervous and guilty if they glanced in your direction. Parents were telling their little children that if they didn't stop riding on the trolleys then nasty policemen would arrest them.
That's not community policing. That's intimidation. |
Re: Violence in Spain
Originally Posted by billgates
(Post 10301096)
I was at East Midlands airport earlier in the year, standing in the check-in queue. In strolled two policemen dressed up like robocop carrying the biggest guns I've ever seen. They were just wandering casually around. Why? There clearly wasn't any threat. No-one approached them at all. Everyone stepped out of their way looking nervous and guilty if they glanced in your direction. Parents were telling their little children that if they didn't stop riding on the trolleys then nasty policemen would arrest them.
That's not community policing. That's intimidation. These type of policeman were all over London when I lived there. I hated it, makes you think that you live in such a sh*thole that you need to be protected by machine guns 24/7 |
Re: Violence in Spain
You can't have community policing at an airport while the country is on a terrorist alert - those machine pistols are to frighten off terrorists, just like the warship parked on the Thames during the Olympics. But I agree that it makes the officers less approachable.
If I need to approach a police officer here in Spain and have the choice of speaking to a Local officer, or an armed Guardia, I speak to the Local. As for the parents who threaten their children with the nasty police, they deserve an ASBO for sheer stupidity. |
Re: Violence in Spain
Originally Posted by billgates
(Post 10301089)
Farmers have always had shotguns. As you say, veterans brought guns back from the war. Rifle and gun clubs have always had guns. If you are that way inclined and know the right sort of people then you have always been able to get hold of a gun. But that doesn't mean that they are any more prevelent nowadays than fifty years ago. How many police actually ever fire their guns? Honestly, what use are they other than as a fashion accessory or a recruitment tool? How many police have actually been saved from serious injury purely because they were armed? I don't have the numbers but I bet it isn't many.
I would probably be called racist for suggesting there has been an increase in the availability and use of guns since the Sov Bloc countries started to flood the country - but i will say it anyway. I would love to give figures but the Home Office obfuscate on gun crime which they don't on racist crime and have now passed it on to the ONS, who being statistitions obfuscate even more.
Originally Posted by billgates
(Post 10301089)
This is surely a symptom of current trends. They are told that the streets are dangerous. They are told that they must wear their armour before they go out. It's a dangerous world out there and you're placing your life on the line. Tell anyone that often enough and they're bound to get scared. And as someone else pointed out, you better wear all that gear or the insurance won't pay out.
Sure there are no-go areas. They exist in any big town and city. Always have. But a busy city centre high street on a Saturday afternoon? Is a great big two-handed rifle really necessary? Well unless you are following a stolen car that enters a gypsy camp, when you then have to give 48hrs notice of entry with the council's gypsy officer present as a witness. Never seen an armed police officer in the high street. Mind you I find the WPC's easier to talk to, they are nearer my 5' 10", I get a crick in the neck talking to the failed basketball players. :lol: |
Re: Violence in Spain
Originally Posted by billgates
(Post 10301096)
I was at East Midlands airport earlier in the year, standing in the check-in queue. In strolled two policemen dressed up like robocop carrying the biggest guns I've ever seen. They were just wandering casually around. Why? There clearly wasn't any threat.
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/845634-b...s-cargo-planes |
Re: Violence in Spain
Originally Posted by HBG
(Post 10301163)
You can't have community policing at an airport while the country is on a terrorist alert - those machine pistols are to frighten off terrorists, just like the warship parked on the Thames during the Olympics. But I agree that it makes the officers less approachable.
If I need to approach a police officer here in Spain and have the choice of speaking to a Local officer, or an armed Guardia, I speak to the Local. As for the parents who threaten their children with the nasty police, they deserve an ASBO for sheer stupidity. Or was it the machine pistols ? Is it too soon to say that terrorism is on the wane ? |
Re: Violence in Spain
Originally Posted by billgates
(Post 10301096)
I was at East Midlands airport earlier in the year, standing in the check-in queue. In strolled two policemen dressed up like robocop carrying the biggest guns I've ever seen. They were just wandering casually around. Why? There clearly wasn't any threat. No-one approached them at all. Everyone stepped out of their way looking nervous and guilty if they glanced in your direction. Parents were telling their little children that if they didn't stop riding on the trolleys then nasty policemen would arrest them.
That's not community policing. That's intimidation. |
Re: Violence in Spain
Originally Posted by billgates
(Post 10300959)
If I were doing something illegal and fully expecting the police to arrive all tooled up and prepared to give me a good beating or a blast with a taser then don't expect me to come quietly. Violence breeds violence. I don't believe that knives and guns are any easier to get hold of these days than back in the days of Dixon of Dock Green. The Daily Mail will have you believe that you'll find a gun inside any school desk. It's bollocks but helps sell newspapers. I don't know anyone who has a gun, nor do I know of anyone that knows anyone with a gun. Maybe if these young cops looked a little less like robocop, a little less invincible, a little more vulnerable (human?) perhaps they might get a little earned respect? Gun crime has almost doubled in the last decade despite high profile Government campaigns to tackle the problem. One part of the country has seen the problem increase almost seven fold as the availability of guns, and criminals' williness to use them rises. Lancashire Police saw a 598 per cent increase from just 50 to 349 over the period while Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Essex all saw five fold increases. Unless you move in somewhat nefarious circles it's hardly likely you will know anyone that owns a shooter, but there were 9,865 firearm offences in 2007/08, a rise of 89 per cent on the 5,209 recorded in 1998/99 with some 1,760 gun related injuries or deaths. I don't see any cops near me dressed as robocop, but then I don't live in the middle of Manchester, London or wherever, the response is proportional to the threat. If I was patrolling the streets of some city centres late at night after a load of smackheads have had a nose full of coke, I'd feel better with some protection. Judging by the flowers, messages etc when the two police ladies where shot, I'd say there is a lot of respect from a lot of people for the police. You might not be one of them, and I certainly don't think they are perfect, but they are doing a tough job in tough times. |
Re: Violence in Spain
Originally Posted by cricketman
(Post 10301157)
Yes I've made this point before on here
These type of policeman were all over London when I lived there. I hated it, makes you think that you live in such a sh*thole that you need to be protected by machine guns 24/7 Gotta be the most hypocritical statement of all time. You mean not quite such a sh!thole as Spain where you see cops openly sporting their pistols at almost every town and village in the country. In comparison, cops with guns in most parts of the UK are a rarity. By the way, it only takes one bullet to kill you Cman, be it from a rifle or a pistol. |
Re: Violence in Spain
Originally Posted by Dick Dasterdly
(Post 10301401)
:rofl::rofl::rofl:
Gotta be the most hypocritical statement of all time. You mean not quite such a sh!thole as Spain where you see cops openly sporting their pistols at almost every town and village in the country. In comparison, cops with guns in most parts of the UK are a rarity. By the way, it only takes one bullet to kill you Cman, be it from a rifle or a pistol. Luckily, away from embassies, large stations and famous peoples' homes, the police don't tend to carry them. As for only taking one bullet to kill you, you don't even need that (I'm not even talking about other weapons, it's possible to kill with bare hands). |
Re: Violence in Spain
Originally Posted by Dick Dasterdly
(Post 10301401)
:rofl::rofl::rofl:
Gotta be the most hypocritical statement of all time. You mean not quite such a sh!thole as Spain where you see cops openly sporting their pistols at almost every town and village in the country. In comparison, cops with guns in most parts of the UK are a rarity. |
Re: Violence in Spain
They may smile, but I wouldn't like to approach these guys
http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/vm...ery-barrac.jpg |
Re: Violence in Spain
In the UK, 70% of police officers do not want to be routinely armed because they believe in providing a community service first and foremost, which has been a long-standing tradition.
Unfortunately, armed response units now have to be available for the nutters coming out of the woodwork in recent years. And for our home-grown terrorists who look just the same as the rest of us, but want to blow us up. There was an earlier question about where the illegal guns are coming from - either Eastern Europe or from the internet is the answer. |
Re: Violence in Spain
Originally Posted by steviedeluxe
(Post 10301491)
They may smile, but I wouldn't like to approach these guys
] Something of a contrast to some of the gun toting little Hitlers strolling through most of the Spanish towns. Even the plods carrying out market and bar supervision carry guns and seem obsessed with impressing everyone with their authority. |
Re: Violence in Spain
Originally Posted by Dick Dasterdly
(Post 10301545)
Two friendlier looking coppers as you could ever wish to see.
Something of a contrast to some of the gun toting little Hitlers strolling through most of the Spanish towns. Even the plods carrying out market and bar supervision carry guns and seem obsessed with impressing everyone with their authority. I've actually witnessed two separate occasions when Guardia Civil officers discharged their old-fashioned revolvers and they were miles off target. My neighbour has a bullet hole in his wall where the Guardia were firing at a suspect who was at least a hundred yards away. The Guardia were two old and fat men, who both emptied their revolvers at an impossible target, a fit young man who had stolen a car and could run like the wind. If they had hit him, it would have been in the back while running away, but I don't suppose it would even have made the local newspapers. |
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