Armed officers in UK placed on routine foot patrol
(The Telegraph): Police officers armed with submachine guns are to be deployed on routine patrol of Britain’s streets for the first time. A hand-picked team from CO19, the Metropolitan Police’s elite firearms unit, will walk the beat in gun crime hotspots where armed gangs have turned entire estates into "no go" zones. The officers will carry Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns – capable of firing up to 800 rounds-per-minute – and Glock semi-automatic pistols. CO19 currently provides armed support in volatile situations like sieges and terrorist attacks, with its officers on constant call in vehicles around London.
Category: World News
Murders in Jamaica occur at about 1 per 3000 of population annually.
Murders in Cayman have occured at about 1 in 6000 of population for 2009 so far. meaning that the odds of you being murdered in the Cayman islands is about one in six thousand.
In other words your chances of being murdered is much better than winning the lottery.
So much for the wonderful and effective "Matrix Approach" of policing in the UK !!!
Anytime there is an increase in the carrying of fireams on routine patrol in the UK, we all know that failure has come about.
Isn’t that the same "Matrix Approach" that was introduced and have been tried here in Cayman as well ???
Such wonderful results we have obtained, have we ???
When did the Firearms unit of the met change from SO19 to CO19??
I think it was around the end of 2007.
CO19 is the name given to the department, which provides the firearms related support to the rest of the Metropolitan Police Service
CO19 Specialist Firearms Command are better known by SO19 which was its former Specialist Operations, which provides the firearms related support to the rest of the Metropolitan Police Service.
The name changed because the department moved from Specialist Operations Command to Central Command.
It trains the Diplomatic Protection Group, Royalty Protection, SCD1 Diplomatic and VIP Protection, SCD7 The Flying Squad, SCD11 The Surveillance Department aswell as others in the police and other agencies in the use of firearms and tactics.
They travel all over the world working/training with other agencies.
Thank you very much for that…
The review of violence comes as quarterly figures for April to June 2009 showed that overall crime in England and Wales fell 4% compared to the same period of 2008.
But the detail also reveals a 3% rise in home burglaries and a 1% rise in robberies. Violent crime fell by 1%. The latest figures from the separate British Crime Survey say that the risk of being a victim remains at a historic low.
Sorry to burst your bubble but the UK is way down the list of violent crime spots – !!
I’d be interested to say where Cayman is placed after the run you have had recently – in 2007 only 7 people were murdered as a result of gun crime please bear in mind the UK has a population of 61.4 million and not 48,000 as in Cayman !! How many murders have you had so far this year ?
Yes there is more violent crime like everywhere else which is unacceptable and hopefully a firm stance is going to be the approach .
Sorry to burst your bubble but the UK is way down the list of the worlds highest violent crime spots per head of population .
Yes it has its fair share of troubles and they are now taking a firm stance against this – People are Not running amok shooting on the streets get a grip , yes there are incidents involving firearms however it is very much in the minority- in 2007 9 people lost their lives to gun crime .
And how many persons have been murdered by means other than firearms?
And this will fight or prevent crime???
I don’t think so… how are you going to fight criminals triggered by an economy, which got itself in its own mess.
I worry about deploying men with guns along the streets of Britain… it does not deliver a good message to our young people. In place of their schools and eduational centers, they will see "force" as the remedy for crime.
God help us and protect these Islands from "those" in government, pulling the strings of power
Thinking like this is what allows crime to thrive. Failing to oppose crime is what makes it the easy choice. If getting shot in return is a real option, a lot of cowardly criminals (like most of them) won’t take the risk.
Force is a remedy for crime, unless you like being a victim. Deal with the social issues to save the next generation of Caymanians. This one is already wrapped up in crime and gang life, and can’t be handled with kid gloves. They’ll just shoot you for trying.
God protect us from people who would let crime go unchecked. God give our leaders the cojones to go further than putting the police on the streets – put guns on their belts and real prisons in the background.
This report is about a dangerous inner-city area. it is not reflective of the vast majority of the UK where it is very safe and gun crime is significantly lower than other countries.
You have to bear in mind the reason for this report at all. This is one of the first times ever that the British Police are considering patrolling armed. This becomes a newsworthy event because it is so rare in the UK. Contrast that to the US, Canada, France, and pretty much anywhere else where almost every policeman, customs, immigration etc. are all armed.
Of course lets not even consider comparing the UK gun crime scene to the madness we have right here in Cayman. By comparison, the UK approach is a huge success- sadly Cayman’s approach is a huge failure.
(Addressing 11.51’s final paragraph)
Because, (contrary to what many of the posters say here) the UK approach, training and policing policies are not being implented here. Policing here in the Caymans, even by UK officers, does not in any way resemble the policing in the UK. If it did, and if we had a similar Act as P.A.C.E. here (as Mr Baines well knows), it would be far more effective.
FYI – the RCIPS does operate under PACE guidlines!
This is probably one of the most amusing posts I have read on here recently. I just mentioned this to a criminal lawyer and he found it hilarious.
If the police here follow PACE they pick and choose when to follow it and what to follow, but if you knew PACE and all of its provisions and then took a good look at practices here, you might retract that statement. Perhaps they are meant to follow PACE here but I can tell you now – they don’t. They’re also commonly referred to as using UK policing methods. I can tell you now that they don’t.
Here’s a few examples: http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-policing/powers-pace-codes/pace-code-intro/
Have a good read (particularly Codes A, B, C and D) and come back tell me if you still think they use PACE here. Having experienced both the UK and Cayman perspectives I can assure you they don’t.
The RCIP operates on the priciples of the Judges Rules, not PACE. I don’t get it, after having all UK commisioners, with the exception of one, why haven’t the RCIP mirrored the policing practices of the UK, if it is such good police practice? then again, policing cost money, not pennies that the CI government put in to the RCIP…….Yes, pennies.
This is not the first time. It has been done before in other parts of the country in other constabularies as well as the met.
True – this is not the first time at all. I can remember them taking similar action back in the 80’s in Manchester (Moss Side) and London Met after all the bombings on the underground. They also routinely patrol (with guns) certain government buildings and embassies in London.
The point is, only very specialised and extensively trained officers are permitted to be part of the armed units of the UK’s police force.
Here we go folks…
This clearly illustrates the point that I often stress in my posts.
The UK has been branded as "Broken Britain" by its own media corporations.
Young people are running amock in the streets – stabbing, shooting, bottling and fighting each other as well as innocent members of the public.
Right now the UK police service in under crticism for misreporting actual crime statistics in order to present a watered-down version of this reality.
Clean up your own backyards before you talk that high and mighty lingo.
If you’re offended by last sentence then…yes, it is you I’m talking to.
Technically, Cayman is the UK’s back yard until it gains independance…..
yeah, we are the backyard, the one with all the fruit trees you like picking fruit from, be careful though, we may have been using the wrong fertilizer for too long, and the fruit trees may stop bearing