Britain's Gun law
Britain's police are famed for walking the streets armed with nothing more lethal than a truncheon. But now, for the first time, bobbies on the beat in two violent districts of Nottingham are carrying guns. John Kampfner asks, is this the shape of things to come?
Special report: policing crime http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/crime/0,2759,339240,00.html
Guardian
Monday December 4, 2000
From deep inside Sherwood forest, a revolution in British policing has begun. But its leaders deny it is any such thing. "There is nothing exceptional in what we're doing," says Assistant Chief Constable Sean Price. "This is not a Genghis Khan approach. We're only doing what the police have always done - deploying the level of force appropriate to the threat."
From his desk at Sherwood Lodge, the headquarters of Nottinghamshire police, Price is masterminding Operation Real Estate. At its heart is a strategy that, so far, every other police force in Britain has balked at - putting armed officers on the beat.
The decision was taken in February, when rival gangs shooting out a territory dispute left several people injured. Locals knew what was going on but were frightened to get involved. "I knew at the time this was the thin end of the wedge," says Price. "If we hadn't got a grip quickly, it would have got out of control."
Six officers, operating in pairs and armed with Walther P990 pistols, were deployed on the Meadows estate and nearby St Ann's, and have been there since. Supported by two "armed response vehicles" - ARVs - in which Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine guns are kept, they help unarmed officers to work the beat from dusk until the middle of the night.
Armed policing is, in itself, not new in Britain. It is a part of daily life in Northern Ireland, and people on the mainland are used to seeing armed officers at airports, City of London checkpoints and siege incidents.
for the complete story go here
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4099970,00.html
Britain's police are famed for walking the streets armed with nothing more lethal than a truncheon. But now, for the first time, bobbies on the beat in two violent districts of Nottingham are carrying guns. John Kampfner asks, is this the shape of things to come?
Special report: policing crime http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/crime/0,2759,339240,00.html
Guardian
Monday December 4, 2000
From deep inside Sherwood forest, a revolution in British policing has begun. But its leaders deny it is any such thing. "There is nothing exceptional in what we're doing," says Assistant Chief Constable Sean Price. "This is not a Genghis Khan approach. We're only doing what the police have always done - deploying the level of force appropriate to the threat."
From his desk at Sherwood Lodge, the headquarters of Nottinghamshire police, Price is masterminding Operation Real Estate. At its heart is a strategy that, so far, every other police force in Britain has balked at - putting armed officers on the beat.
The decision was taken in February, when rival gangs shooting out a territory dispute left several people injured. Locals knew what was going on but were frightened to get involved. "I knew at the time this was the thin end of the wedge," says Price. "If we hadn't got a grip quickly, it would have got out of control."
Six officers, operating in pairs and armed with Walther P990 pistols, were deployed on the Meadows estate and nearby St Ann's, and have been there since. Supported by two "armed response vehicles" - ARVs - in which Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine guns are kept, they help unarmed officers to work the beat from dusk until the middle of the night.
Armed policing is, in itself, not new in Britain. It is a part of daily life in Northern Ireland, and people on the mainland are used to seeing armed officers at airports, City of London checkpoints and siege incidents.
for the complete story go here
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4099970,00.html