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[TheLostBigBoss]

I bet British SWAT lightly tap on the door and say, "Good morning madam and sir, we are about to enter your premises with a legal warrant so don't be alarmed! Would you like some tea before we start?"

 

[twobear]

exCUSE me??????????????

 

[Arials]

How can a criminal get a gun in the UK? Just curious, since you seem to know how they acquire it here. If many criminals had guns, why have been there so few incidents with the police?

Reboring deactivated guns, illegal imports from parts of the world where guns are easy to get: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/aug/30/ukcrime1

Shooting at police is just an unnecessarily stupid thing to do, you aren't going to get away with it. A gun would be for protection from/aggression towards other criminals. If the police are coming for you it makes more sense to throw the gun away and hope no one sees you do it (which seems to be what Mark Duggan did) because then they'll struggle to get a conviction in court due to the 'beyond all reasonable doubt' stuff.

 

[Jackpot]

But they can. There's a big difference between serious criminals and every dickhead who wants a gun.

Read the stats. Only 1000 guns in circulation. You are wrong.

It's a basic principle of supply and demand.

 

[SmokyDave]

One question. Why do you want a shotgun?

Shotguns are lovely pieces of engineering / manufacturing and clay / target shooting is great fun. They definitely have their place, just a particularly well regulated place.

exCUSE me??????????????

It's an old Viz comic. Those cats weren't racist even if that caricature looks dodgy.

Unless you're just showing off your new avatar, of course.

 

[Goldfishking]

Read the stats. Only 1000 guns in circulation. You are wrong.

It's a basic principle of supply and demand.

Just a couple of months ago someone in my town (I live in England) threw a grenade into someones home. Also their have been a ton of shootings lately due to gang voilence.

Also stop telling people to 'check the stats' or 'read the stats'. Stats dont mean much when it comes to Swat raids.

 

[Maledict]

Just a couple of months ago someone in my town (I live in England) threw a grenade into someones home. Also their have been a ton of shootings lately due to gang voilence.

Also stop telling people to 'check the stats' or 'read the stats'. Stats dont mean much when it comes to Swat raids.

Again, as someone who works in the field and is very up to speed on those stats, you are wrong. Sorry the anonymous appeal to authority post, I know it's a bit shit. The stats are *extremely* accurate because the IPCC and the way the system works means they get watched like hawks.

Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal.

 

[quesalupa]

No, no, they're first resort. Last resort is where you go before your suspension with pay is almost up.

Ha I suppose you're right. They "should" be last resort.

 

[CyclopsRock]

But they can't. That's why gun crime is low. And that's why that stupid "if guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns" comment is false.

I think that's a totally reasonable argument in the US, though. We've never had a large gun culture here so when handguns were banned in the 90's there were relatively few to sweep up. There are more guns in the US than there are people, out there in the wild. I genuinely think that ship has sailed to the point where if (constitutional hurdles aside) you banned all guns from everyone in the US overnight, there's be an incredibly lengthy period of time wherein only outlaws would have guns.

 

[Arials]

Read the stats. Only 1000 guns in circulation. You are wrong.

Yes, few guns and the serious criminals have them. This isn't hard to understand.

 

[Polip Fawn]

I was watching the third to last episode of HUMANS on amc, and the swat team calmly asked the family to turn their electronics in for evidence, let them know they would be returned, and there was no yelling.

I was like this is totally unrealistic, like a lot of other things on the show, but then I thought to ask the internet.

Im looking forward to the next season though.

In America Swat is only called for threats of people about to take hostages,kill another person/ kill them/ bomb/ explosion/ terrorist plot/ last second saving during an incident/ poisonous gas, planned air strike/ protect national objects or people from international crisis, protect people from ongoing or upcoming national national crisis/usually 80% of the time valid death threats to groups, infrastructure or etc./Rescue unit/Manhunt.

If anything Swat is dangerous.

 

[benjipwns]

In America Swat is only called for threats of people about to take hostages,kill another person/ kill them/ bomb/ explosion/ terrorist plot/ last second saving during an incident/ poisonous gas, planned air strike/ protect national objects or people from international crisis, protect people from ongoing or upcoming national national crisis/usually 80% of the time valid death threats to groups, infrastructure or etc./Rescue unit/Manhunt.

If anything Swat is dangerous.

Also to serve warrants to non-violent offenders in the middle of the night.

Or people who might live nearby an apartment that smelled like marijuana.

 

[Danneee]

Oh man, thread delivered big time with Special Weapons Attack Team!

 

[Jasup]

US police, particularly SWAT, are straight up bust and gun. Actual policing or saving lives seems to not be on their radar. An ex girlfriend who is an exec for a luxury cruise line told me they try to only hire British ex and current law enforcement as security because they know how to deal with people. I.E. they're courteous and try to avoid conflict as part of their training. US police got into lots of fights and brought down tons of lawsuits.

I'm going to bring this up, because this is in my opinion one of the biggest difference between the police in the US and police in many other western nations - training.

The US police training lasts on average 18 weeks + 8 weeks field training.
Within this there's a median amount of 8 hours of "mediation skills/conflict management" -training, and 11 hours of "human relations". On the other hand there is around 60 hours of firearms skills and 44 hours of self-defence.
(source: http://discoverpolicing.org/what_does_take/?fa=training_academy_life )

The training's around half a year, with small emphasis on actual social skills. Whereas the police work itself consists of complex social situations, situations that require rapid decision making skills and working under stress. In my opinion the police training in the US is too short to give new officers enough tools in their professional toolbox to handle the vide variety of situations they're exposed to in their professional life. They are basically given the proverbial hammer after which everything looks like a nail.

The difference is that in the UK the police training takes 2 years ( http://www.prospects.ac.uk/police_officer_training.htm ), which is less than in some Western European countries where police training lasts for 3 years and is a bachelor's degree programme (Finnish police training: http://www.polamk.fi/en/bachelor_studies ). The emphasis is more on safety and social skills meaning more tools, more ways of dealing with situations, and less reverting back to fight or flight response and grasping the gun.

 

[danwarb]

I think that's a totally reasonable argument in the US, though. We've never had a large gun culture here so when handguns were banned in the 90's there were relatively few to sweep up. There are more guns in the US than there are people, out there in the wild. I genuinely think that ship has sailed to the point where if (constitutional hurdles aside) you banned all guns from everyone in the US overnight, there's be an incredibly lengthy period of time wherein only outlaws would have guns.

In Australia people were incentivised to turn in guns, that worked.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

I'm going to bring this up, because this is in my opinion one of the biggest difference between the police in the US and police in many other western nations - training.

The US police training lasts on average 18 weeks + 8 weeks field training.
Within this there's a median amount of 8 hours of "mediation skills/conflict management" -training, and 11 hours of "human relations". On the other hand there is around 60 hours of firearms skills and 44 hours of self-defence.
(source: http://discoverpolicing.org/what_does_take/?fa=training_academy_life )

The training's around half a year, with small emphasis on actual social skills. Whereas the police work itself consists of complex social situations, situations that require rapid decision making skills and working under stress. In my opinion the police training in the US is too short to give new officers enough tools in their professional toolbox to handle the vide variety of situations they're exposed to in their professional life. They are basically given the proverbial hammer after which everything looks like a nail.

The difference is that in the UK the police training takes 2 years ( http://www.prospects.ac.uk/police_officer_training.htm ), which is less than in some Western European countries where police training lasts for 3 years and is a bachelor's degree programme (Finnish police training: http://www.polamk.fi/en/bachelor_studies ). The emphasis is more on safety and social skills meaning more tools, more ways of dealing with situations, and less reverting back to fight or flight response and grasping the gun.

Yeah, my Sister-in-Law wants to get into the police force and they've told her to get a lot more community experience first. There's a huge emphasis on social understanding and training, which is the way it should be.

 

[Jasup]

Yeah, my Sister-in-Law wants to get into the police force and they've told her to get a lot more community experience first. There's a huge emphasis on social understanding and training, which is the way it should be.

My friend just told me today that she got into Finnish police training. She has a bachelor's degree in linguistics, is finishing her master's degree in humanities and a she's a community worker. And she said the same thing, the emphasis was on psychology and social skills.

She'll be a good police officer I think.