Arming The Police In The Uk Essay

800 Words4 Pages

This essay will argue that arming the police in the UK, would cause crime rates to rise and I believe that it would not support the public. Current public opinion supports this argument. When 47,328 members of the British public were surveyed 82% of them said that they did not want officers in the UK to be routinely armed. This shows that the majority of the public would feel safer without armed police. I believe that arming the police in the UK, would cause crime rates to rise and I do not believe that it would help the public in anyway.
Currently gun violence and crime is rare throughout the UK. Giving all police firearms may increase the perceived need for civilians to have access to the guns. This could increase the amount of gun violence and violent crime committed in the UK. This would cause extra pressure on police resources and arguably increase the risk of serious incident. There is evidence to support that providing Police Firearms could increase ‘Gang mentality’ in certain areas of UK. "I dread to think what would happen if those I had to deal with as a kid were suddenly in possession of firearms" (from a UK citizen). This, in turn could mean a rise in the amount of gun crimes particularly in areas of deprivation.
There have been reported cases in America whereby …show more content…

The Armed Response Vehicles are crewed by Authorised Firearms Officers. This policing resource is available at all hours, with officers armed with pistols and taser stun guns. It is argued that there is no need for all British officers to be in possession of guns. In situations, where lives are in danger due to firearms being involved, these specialist units are called to the situation. If there are already authority figures trained to deal with these certain situations, then surely this eliminates the need for all police forces to carry