US cop quits 'too risky' UK force

Times Online (UK) ^ | 12/4/05 | David Leppard

[FeliciaCat]

"In America, officers spend weeks learning how to cope with armed incidents. But in Britain, Johnson said, he was never shown how to handle or unload a firearm or told how to respond to an armed robbery. “Officers spend more time learning about how to process paperwork than dealing with violent situations. We are trained more like social workers than police officers.

“The training I received in Britain in dealing with armed incidents was virtually non-existent. It consisted of a 30-minute lecture from a firearms officer who said: ‘If you see the business end of a gun or anyone holding a gun . . . turn, run and get away as quickly as possible’.”



That is unbelievable. What is the point of police officers if they are not trained to handle violent situations???? Mind boggling.

[heartwood]

Johnson accepted that America is more violent than Britain, with a gun culture contributing to a murder rate 17 times higher than here. He recognised, too, that many more police officers are murdered in America — 57 last year compared with just one here — proportionately about 11 times as many

It's not 17 times as high, it's 3 times as high - 4.3/100,000 compared to 1.4/100,000.

[manwiththehands]

How does a criminal manage to get a handgun in a country where handguns are banned?

/sarc

[thebaron512]

What the US has more people than UK? Math won't stop the news from posting numbers that don't match reality.

[festus]

British/European methods are superior.

We should always be striving to emulate them.

/sarcasm off.

[beltfed308]

Johnson accepted that America is more violent than Britain, with a gun culture contributing to a murder rate 17 times higher than here.

Stay there and enjoy the culture.

[Moonman62]

Considering the Islamofacist threat evidenced by 7/11, I would think that Brit police would WANT weapons so that they might kill a terrorist bomber rather than allow them to kill dozens of innocent civilians.

Well they did shoot to death that one guy who was running into the subway who turned out to be innocent.

[Ghengis]

It is a good policy to not rely upon the whims and charity of others for your own personal survival. Especially when dealing with criminals or government. (I know, I know. That is redundant).

[Murtyo]

Johnson accepted that America is more violent than Britain, with a gun culture contributing to a murder rate 17 times higher than here. - Not so - the Murder rate in the UK 0.0140633 per 1,000 people, the rate is 0.042802 per 1,000 people in the United States. That's a rate of 3 times the UK rate, not 17. Source http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_mur_cap

[xarmydog]

As the article states,PC Johnson!

[Heatseeker]

We are trained more like social workers than police officers.

Ironically, one of the complaints about police I have often heard or read from liberals in the US is that police should be more like social workers.

[lovecraft]

As the comedian Robin Williams once said on describing the UK police's stopping technique:

"STOP! Or I will be forced to say STOP again!"

[antiRepublicrat]

Not so - the Murder rate in the UK 0.0140633 per 1,000 people, the rate is 0.042802 per 1,000 people in the United States. That's a rate of 3 times the UK rate, not 17. Source http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_mur_cap

I always have to ask this question when I see gun death stats: do they include suicides? Fewer guns definitely means fewer gun-related suicides (although not necessarily fewer suicides) and they are often reported with the murders.

Also, IIRC, during the whole IRA problem Britain wasn't reporting IRA killings with their gun death statistics.

[aimhigh]

Quite a change from the American MSM.

Go back and read the top. This was posted in the UK Times. It probably won't see daylight in the American press.

[Gordongekko909]

Hence the comparison to the American MSM.

[mississippi red-neck]

No they can't, and it isn't their job either.

You are correct.

According to our courts it is not the responsibility of the police to protect individual citizens besides which it is physically impossible for them to do so.

Their job is to arrest the one who has just, robbed, attacked or killed you and/or yours so they can exercise all those rights they just denied you.

The person who is responsible for your safety in the home, at work, and in the streets of the everyday world is you, period.

The founding fathers knew the most important right was the right to life and it is why they insisted on you having the right to it and the tools necessary to defend it.

[JTN]

After seeing your sparring with others on the subway search thread I did a search on your comments. I must say I like your kung fu. We need more advocates for freedom around here (and just about everywhere else). There are far to many jackboot lickers on FR.

[cynicom]

What a sissy, wanting a gun to defend himself.

[Jigsaw John]

I've known 4 people that relocated to the UK in the past 15 years or so. All have since moved back to America.