4 ms·

And yet, only 2 UK police officers were killed in the last year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_police_officers_killed_in_the_line_of_duty https

And yet, only 2 UK police officers were killed in the last year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_police_officers_killed_in_the_line_of_duty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_police_officer...

gridlockd 6y ago
Yes, because guns in the UK are rare and police officers aren't going to engage someone with a gun when they're armed with just toys.
- ric2b 6y ago
  So we agree that the UK system works much better. Both less police and less civilians killed.
  - gridlockd 6y ago
    No, we don't. For comparison, in Germany, a slightly larger country, where officers are armed, less than one officer per year died in the past decade: https://www.dw.com/en/two-german-police-officers-killed-by-fleeing-murder-suspect-in-brandenburg/a-37749390 https://www.dw.com/en/two-german-police-officers-killed-by-f... If officers don't engage because they are insufficiently equipped, you effectively have less policing. Less policing causes more violence and more deaths. "Stop and frisk" works: https://www.npr.org/2012/05/15/152764402/stop-and-frisk-works-but-its-problematic?t=1591702388939 https://www.npr.org/2012/05/15/152764402/stop-and-frisk-work... Knife crime in the UK keeps going up... https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42749089 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42749089 ...as a result of literally defunding the police: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/02/criminals-going-unpunished-because-of-cuts-says-police-chief https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/02/criminals-go...
    - throwaway93132 6y ago
      https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/United-Kingdom/United-States/Crime/Violent-crime https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/United-Kin... Why pick out a random statistic like knife crime? It sucks, but matters much less than the following statistics: US has 4 times more intentional homicide rate vs. UK. US has 18 times more murder rate vs. UK. I think the evidence is quite clear that the UK with police that are less heavily armed have better crime statistics, fewer police deaths, AND fewer civilian deaths caused by police.

gridlockd 6y ago

Yes, because guns in the UK are rare and police officers aren't going to engage someone with a gun when they're armed with just toys.

ric2b 6y ago
So we agree that the UK system works much better. Both less police and less civilians killed.
- gridlockd 6y ago
  No, we don't. For comparison, in Germany, a slightly larger country, where officers are armed, less than one officer per year died in the past decade: https://www.dw.com/en/two-german-police-officers-killed-by-fleeing-murder-suspect-in-brandenburg/a-37749390 https://www.dw.com/en/two-german-police-officers-killed-by-f... If officers don't engage because they are insufficiently equipped, you effectively have less policing. Less policing causes more violence and more deaths. "Stop and frisk" works: https://www.npr.org/2012/05/15/152764402/stop-and-frisk-works-but-its-problematic?t=1591702388939 https://www.npr.org/2012/05/15/152764402/stop-and-frisk-work... Knife crime in the UK keeps going up... https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42749089 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42749089 ...as a result of literally defunding the police: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/02/criminals-going-unpunished-because-of-cuts-says-police-chief https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/02/criminals-go...
  - throwaway93132 6y ago
    https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/United-Kingdom/United-States/Crime/Violent-crime https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/United-Kin... Why pick out a random statistic like knife crime? It sucks, but matters much less than the following statistics: US has 4 times more intentional homicide rate vs. UK. US has 18 times more murder rate vs. UK. I think the evidence is quite clear that the UK with police that are less heavily armed have better crime statistics, fewer police deaths, AND fewer civilian deaths caused by police.