sir_eccles

Thanks for those recollections. Perhaps police forces need to re-examine their training and perhaps question their purpose.

I recall being told as a child the police were there to help you, if you got lost find a nice policeman etc. I feel if I went to a cop here and asked for directions or the time of day he would immediately put his hand on his sidearm face me and ask me why I wanted to know. A very aggressive stance that immediately raises tensions.

kimilseung

Thanks for your personal experience.

kimilseung

I'm guessing this one will not either.

sir_eccles

Probably because OMG EBOLA

The things more than ebola meme on twitter is starting to get weird. So far in the past few days I've seen:

married to kim kardashian
Donald Trump Bankruptcies
Flu deaths
car deaths
gun deaths
asphyxiated while masturbating

lansbury

Always been guns at UK police stations throughout my service. Usually six .38s and 100 rounds. These days the Met has armed patrols on 24/7, so not sure what the situation is at the police stations since I retired.


Once you get used to it you don't pay any attention. I tend to look out of interest to see what they are carrying.

lansbury

In the UK officers police by consent. In the US by force, the gun makes the difference.

He puts his hand on his sidearm to protect it, and respond to any threat. Look at the number of US officers killed on duty and compare that to the UK.

sir_eccles

Oh I understand why he does it. I guess I feel it's a chicken and egg situation, which came first the cop gun or the bad guy shooting the cop? Having got to the point where they are policing by force there is no way to go back to consent. Hmm, perhaps Pandora's box then.

TMR

Marysville school shooting as student opens fire in cafeteria | Daily Mail Online

So once again dead children, and once again the US gun nuts are swarming all over the comments.

A seriously sick society and one that will never be cured.

SultanOfSwing

That seems reasonable.

It was Ruger Speed 6 for the RUC. .38, as you say. Those and plastic baton rounds. Now I believe they carry Glocks and MP5s for special response units.

Michael

Although many Americans assume that being a US police officer is a very dangerous job, it ranks only 16th behind being a taxi/limousine driver. Deaths due to confrontations per year is usually less than 20 but like a taxi/limousine driver, they are driving about 8 hours per day and have a much greater risk of being killed in a car accident (about 8x times greater) than in a confrontation.

Most Dangerous Jobs in America List

Pulaski

It was the main story on cnn.com earlier today, so it already has done. The NC incident I alluded to was, as far I can tell, never even mentioned on cnn.com.

Jerseygirl

Again the major news networks ask...how can this keep happening? Duh!!!

Bnet36

I cannot deal with the stupidity anymore

I've heard "what could be going on in these kids lives that they have to do this" well.... Access to guns for one.

Sally Redux

Extremely sad and unnecessary.

Trying not to think about it.

scrubbedexpat091

With the amount of guns physically present in the US/Canada/Mexico, if strict controls and bans went into affect today lets say, any idea how many years it would take before there were so few available that it would reduce things like this?

I hate guns so I'd not complain about tough restrictions on having them.

Even up here, the Ottawa shooter was able to obtain a gun despite having a firearms ban in him.