Quote Originally Posted by Packerman View Post
as a a retired met officer who was an AFO for 15 years my articulate thoughts are that the police don't need or want to be fully armed, what they need is enough armed response to deal with situations that arise, not a problem in London but obviously an issue in other smaller forces, carrying a weapon is a huge responsibility with the onus on you to justify your actions taken in the split second of an incident perhaps to a jury months later when what you did can be minutely examined, not everyone wants that responsibility, we've seen previous threads on this board with people asking why didn't they shoot to wound sums up the predicament nicely
As an ex copper of 13 years who left in 2014 I agree with above . I didnt want to be armed and some ( not the majority ) I wouldn't trust with a stapler. One Copper who was desperate to be armed used to play shooting games at home all night, thank **** he failed the tests otherwise he'd have been Maniac Cop meets Tackleberry from Police academy.
I think more Cops should be trained up, and also personally think there should be more Cops full stop.

Ironic Theresa May praising them yesterday when her and Tom Winsor have been ****ing over the various Police organisations over the country since 2010.