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The UK, with a population (~60m) close to Germany, has very few incidents a year where police discharge firearms. Stats from 2000-2007 show between 5 and 11 in

The UK, with a population (~60m) close to Germany, has very few incidents a year where police discharge firearms. Stats from 2000-2007 show between 5 and 11 incidents where firearms were discharged per year: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/non-personal-data/police/police-firearms-use-2007-2008?view=Standard&pubID=807224 http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.homeo... Unfortunately, when they do use them they do so to kill innocent foreigners, execution style (which then gets largely swept under a rug): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Menezes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Meneze...

epo 14y ago
So you are claiming ("when they do use them they do so to kill innocent foreigners, execution style") the UK police make a point of discharging firearms to kill innocent foreigners? Is this some kind of policy to cull them? Tourists are annoying, sure, but they bring in money. Killing them seems kind of idiotic, as does your comment.
sdfjkl 14y ago
One thing I found very surprising when moving from Germany to the UK was that your average UK "beat cop" doesn't carry a firearm. They call in armed police when needed, but this seems to often result in delays in pursuing criminals and sometimes escalation where armed criminals are given the time to take hostages and/or barricade themselves in. On the other hand, when seeing some recent encounters with these beat cops, I was glad they weren't armed. Overall I got the impression that the UK police forces suffer from a training or selection problem that wasn't apparent in Germany.
- hahainternet 14y ago
  You used the word 'often'. Please substantiate this.
- k-mcgrady 14y ago
  Firearm use varies throughout the UK. For example in Northern Ireland all Police carry firearms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_use_of_firearms_in_the_United_Kingdom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_use_of_firearms_in_the_U...
danparsonson 14y ago
> Unfortunately, when they do use them they do so to kill innocent foreigners, execution style (which then gets largely swept under a rug): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Meneze.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Meneze.... Not to defend those involved, but that was a single tragic incident that occurred at a time and place of very high tension (being about two weeks after the 7th July 2005 London bombings [0]). Your use of the plural ('they do so to kill innocent foreigners') implies a pattern - unfairly, to my mind. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_bombings_of_7_July_2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_bombings_of_7_July_2005

epo 14y ago

So you are claiming ("when they do use them they do so to kill innocent foreigners, execution style") the UK police make a point of discharging firearms to kill innocent foreigners? Is this some kind of policy to cull them? Tourists are annoying, sure, but they bring in money. Killing them seems kind of idiotic, as does your comment.

sdfjkl 14y ago

One thing I found very surprising when moving from Germany to the UK was that your average UK "beat cop" doesn't carry a firearm. They call in armed police when needed, but this seems to often result in delays in pursuing criminals and sometimes escalation where armed criminals are given the time to take hostages and/or barricade themselves in. On the other hand, when seeing some recent encounters with these beat cops, I was glad they weren't armed. Overall I got the impression that the UK police forces suffer from a training or selection problem that wasn't apparent in Germany.

hahainternet 14y ago
You used the word 'often'. Please substantiate this.
k-mcgrady 14y ago
Firearm use varies throughout the UK. For example in Northern Ireland all Police carry firearms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_use_of_firearms_in_the_United_Kingdom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_use_of_firearms_in_the_U...

danparsonson 14y ago

> Unfortunately, when they do use them they do so to kill innocent foreigners, execution style (which then gets largely swept under a rug): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Meneze.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Meneze.... Not to defend those involved, but that was a single tragic incident that occurred at a time and place of very high tension (being about two weeks after the 7th July 2005 London bombings [0]). Your use of the plural ('they do so to kill innocent foreigners') implies a pattern - unfairly, to my mind. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_bombings_of_7_July_2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_bombings_of_7_July_2005