Posted on 10/30/2014 5:33:57 AM PDT by KeyLargo
Kadner: A British policeman learns much about policing in America
By Phil Kadner pkadner@southtownstar.com October 29, 2014 6:30PM
Sergeant Gary Watters, a 14 year veteran of the Greater Manchester Police department, works on the computer at the Park Forest Police Department. Officer Watters is working with the Park Forest Police Department as part of a work exchange program at the Park Forest Police Department
Much of my time with Gary Watters, a sergeant in the United Kingdom’s Greater Manchester Police Department, was spent talking about guns — or the lack of them.
I just couldn’t understand how police officers in England manage to arrest a criminal without carrying a sidearm.
Watters spent October with the Park Forest Police Department as part of a professional/cultural exchange program sponsored by the International Police Association.
At 42, Watters has spent 14 years working for the Greater Manchester PD, including a couple of years in what they call a firearms unit, which means he was among the 2 percent of all law enforcement in England allowed to carry a gun on the job.
“The attitudes toward guns is certainly one of the greatest differences in our countries,” he told me.
Handgun ownership is banned in England, and limited permits for shotguns and rifles are issued by the government.
Watters explained that the typical patrol officer is equipped with a baton, CS spray (a sort of tear gas) and “some even have Tasers.” He said that as if no other explanation for a lack of weaponry was necessary.
But he knows that Americans are dumbstruck by the notion that police can patrol city streets without a gun.
(Excerpt) Read more at southtownstar.suntimes.com ...
"Yet, in England, Watters noted, police have more freedom to conduct searches without a warrant.
“For example, if you drive a car, we can stop your vehicle without cause,” he said. “Over here, I discovered, police must have just cause for doing that.
“If you have a warrant out for your arrest and are staying at someone’s else’s home in the UK, we can bash in the door without a warrant. And if you commit a crime, we can search your home and your car without a warrant.”
Yes, the “rights of Englishmen” have been severely downgraded in the last hundred years.
It started with the right to keep and bear arms, and has gone downhill from there.
Having a written Constitution, and a federal system that serves as a check on the centralization of power, has helped.
Has helped retain constitutional rights in the United States, is what I meant.
Hmmmmm. Guilty until proven innocent.
I wonder how the lib-tard write of the article "feels" about that.
He's assigned to the Department of Redundancy Department.
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is the difference between a citizen and a subject.
Yeah, but it has given we Yanks these backward notions about Liberty.
In more uplifting news:
[Video] 71 Year Old Concealed Carrier Shoots and Kills Man Who Assaulted His Wife
October 29 2014
by Dan Cannon
Share This Post
Incident at a Glance
Gun(s) Used: Handgun Location: Public
# of Suspects: 1 Shots Fired: Unknown
Suspect Killed: Yes State: TX
Source: wfaa.com Archive: WebCite.org
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A 71 year old concealed carrier in Texas shot and killed a thief who also assaulted his wife outside of a grocery store in Dallas, Texas.
According to local media outlets,
Around 7:20 p.m. on Oct. 28, police were called to the Aldi Grocery Store at 3128 Forest Lane. While a husband and wife were leaving the store, a 36-year-old man approached them and grabbed a necklace off the woman’s neck.
Police say the suspect then reportedly knocked the woman to the ground and attempted to rob her. The woman’s husband pulled out his concealed handgun and fired several shots, hitting the suspect as he was trying to get away in a vehicle.
The suspect died of his wounds and crashed the car he was driving.
The elderly concealed carrier was interviewed by police and released.
I’m certainly not an expert in Texas self defense law, but I do know that state law does allow residents to use deadly force to stop a criminal who is fleeing with stolen property in certain situations (it would appear this only applies at night).
A grand jury will decide if it was a lawful shooting. However, police do not expect the man to face charges.
Yet, in England, Watters noted, police have more freedom to conduct searches without a warrant.
[This is not a direct quote of Watters, so i wonder what he REALLY said]
More from the politically correct UK government:
UK: Memorial for soldier Lee Rigby, beheaded by jihadists, will not bear his name
Robert Spencer Oct 27, 2014 at 5:09pm dhimmitude, United Kingdom, Useful idiots, willful ignorance 40 Comments
Presumably it will not bear his name because if it did, it would, in the words of MP Nick Raynsford, attract “undesirable interest from extremists.” There is no telling which “extremists” Raynsford had in mind. Did he mean Islamic jihadists and supremacists who might see a memorial to a victim of jihad violence as an insult to Islam, and target it (and anyone who happened to be nearby) for more jihad violence? Or did he mean “right-wing extremists” who would use it as a rallying point for those who objected to the abject surrender of Britain to those same Islamic jihadists and supremacists? Could be either one, or both. In either case, here is yet more surrender from Abject Britannia.
“Lee Rigby memorial will not bear his name,” BBC, October 23, 2014:
There’s a lot of cops here that shouldn’t have guns and they damn sure don’t need armored personnel carriers and other types of military gear they are getting.
When there’s a need for heavy handed SWAT units it should be based on the threat level. Lot of over kill used here when it’s not necessary and more times than not it’s used to justify the equipment use and not for the actual threat. Kind of like a fender bender when you have 4 - 5 fire trucks, couple of ambulances and several cop cars. NOT NEEDED but when the end of year justification comes along they can say we sent out these units on XXX number of calls. BS for the bean counters.
In articles posted to FR, a photo’s caption frequently gets printed as if it were part of the article. I suspect that’s the case here.
“And if we catch them, we have extensive training in physical combat, so we subdue them.”
This is bs for a start. I know several ex and serving bobbies from the neighbouring Lancashire Constabulary and they have told me that their ‘physical combat’ training is a joke. They get a two day course in how to tackle and restrain a suspect every six months. I do more hours of martial arts training every week than they do in a year, and I still wouldn’t be cocky about taking on a 15 stone six foot+ suspect who didn’t want to go quietly.
He is also incorrect about an English bobby having powers of arrest all over the country. His warrant card only covers England and Wales, if he went to Scotland or Northern Ireland, he’d have no more arrest powers than that of an ordinary citizen.
Yeah, I know, so I went to the source.
My comment stands. :)
I seem to recall an earlier “officer exchange” program with the Brits...
The Irish have the Garda (sp?) and do they operate essentially the same as the bobbies?
Even with our Constitution, separation of powers, and armed citizenry, we have suffered a severe degradation of our rights in the last hundred years in the United States.
Cops in America don’t carry guns because it’s fun. It’s because in many localities, without a gun, the locals will fight arrest.
Brits are more docile.
Having a p.o.s. president who ignores that Constitution, doesn't help.
Yeh how do you think they managed to confiscate all the guns? No warrant searches is how.
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