There's no write in crime
Should the Police be armed in London?
To go into war unarmed is suicide; it's a war situation. Is it the same for the Police on the streets of London?
That's a question I've been asked a few times and I'll give my thoughts on it at the end, as a writer I like to research and for blogging I'm doing the same. Below is a graph taken from (https://www.humanosphere.org/science/2014/03/visualizing-gun-deaths-comparing-the-u-s-to-rest-of-the-world/)
'Police firing their guns happen 15 times more often in New York than the whole of England and Wales (with a population seven times larger). Taking this difference in population into account, police in New York are 100 times more likely to shoot at criminals than their English & Welsh counterparts,'
(https://www.russellwebster.com/londons-gun-crime/)
Before I started writing this blog I asked this question on Facebook, 'Do you think Police in England should carry a gun as part of the uniform?'
I have to admit I was surprised with the results; just under half the comments said yes they should.
The most interesting answer came from an American friend of mine, 'I'd say no, considering American police kill more unarmed people in a year here than UK police have killed in a century. . .and don't believe the media hype about American police being in more danger because of the amount of guns we have here. Police deaths are at a 60 year low here (DOJ), and officer deaths by firearm are the lowest since 1887 (not a typo)'
I can see why people said yes and that's the fear factor, but i really don't think they have much to fear.
'If it's not broken why fix it?'
Of course as a writer, a gun can help me out but in the real world they scare the hell out of me!
I hear and watch reports from the States about school shootings and I think to myself, 'They allow guns so it's going to happen,'
I strongly believe that if the Police were armed at all times so would most criminals, and innocent people will get caught up in the crossfire.
The fear factor i mentioned earlier would be a lot higher, you could be going for your mobile phone and the Police think it's a gun and in that split second it could be life changing or even worse, life ending.
What if the intelligence the Police get is wrong and the wrong person is shot and killed?
Look at the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, it was back in 2007 and London was on high alert after the terrorist attacks. An innocent man died in a case of mistaken identity (https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/7073125.stm)
Yes the Police need to be armed in somes cases but all the time? I think it will cause more problems than there already is.
Please feel free to put your point across on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paul-Moore-Paranormalcrime-writer/1407100702873817 or follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/mooros69
If you have any crime blog ideas please feel free to get in touch