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Originally Posted by susie123
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An interesting article. I had a chat with a friend of mine about the killing of the two officers. He is a retired staff-sargeant and watch commander with the Kingston Police Force. In the last year that he worked he can rememember only three occasions on which members of the KPF actually drew their guns. And only one case of an officer discharging his firearm ... this was to kill a deer that had been badly injured by a car.
Like it or not, you guys are a lot like Canadians, and I don't think that even armed British police would act like our trigger happy neighbours to the south. If you get pulled over in, let's say, Alabama, even in a routine traffic stop, expect the officer to approach your car with his gun drawn. Oh, and don't make any sudden moves to reach in your glove compartment; they could be the last moves you make. However, if what is working now seems to work ... unarmed cops ... maybe it's right for your society. But with armed criminals becoming the rule rather than the exception ... I don't know. I guess I'm used to armed cops. Doesn't bother me any more.
And the point that the two female officers would have been killed even if they had been armed is a good one (although bullet proof vests would have been a good idea.) My friend told me that if Kingston cops had gone on the same call, they would not have had their firearms drawn. And there is this case to consider:
Mayerthorpe tragedy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
And I am surprised that the coppers themselves don't want guns.