DnalweN acilbupeR wrote:Kouralia wrote:I'm suggesting that if you're like Britain you don't need a semi-totalitarian regime of gunmen on every corner. This is mere hear-say, but when I first told my dad what degree I wanted to do, he remarked on the difference between British and US cops - he was physically restrained by a friend when pulled over by a cop. He'd tried to get out of the car and explain the situation to the policeman, and the friend had restrained him in his seat as the officer walked up out of (he says) honest-to-god fear he would be shot.
Yeah, you don't sound very impartial
"a semi-totalitarian regime of gunmen on every corner" - This might surprise you but armed police (in significant numbers) are not exclusive to countries with what you'd call "lax gun laws" , if that's what this is about.
No... because, you know, the gunmen are kinda the police, because it's the 'regime'.
American cops are right to be afraid.
I wonder why?
There are countless videos on the Internet showing traffic stops turned homicides or attempted homicides, with or without a gun. An individual interacting with a police officer should always pay attention and do what the cop tells him to do (in reasonable limits of course) or behave according to commonly known norms for the safety of them both.
No shit, but it didn't reach that point.
Regardless of this, your dad's friend was knowingly or unknowingly exaggerating. No one will shoot you for exiting your vehicle, you'll simply be asked to step back inside. Between you and me, as far as officer safety is concerned, this isn't really such a safe procedure as a cop could easily be shot (or even stabbed) when approaching the crook's window. IMO best practice would be to ask the driver to exit the vehicle through the cop car's PA system. This way his hands are always visible and in case SHTF the officer can effectively return fire.
How does he return fire while his weapon is holstered in an awkward position and he is constrained by the vehicle?
From speaking to ex-cops, the ASP is capable of breaking bones with a correctly executed strike - you don't need a pistol when you're unlikely to get a gunman, and the average response time for a trio of what are basically SWAT is something like 5 minutes across all of the largest city in the nation.
It's common sense that something like a telescopic baton is capable of breaking bone. Hell, I managed to fracture (crack) my kneecap (stable fracture) simply by falling onto it (granted, I only fell on one knee or fell on that knee first, can't remember). I can't imagine there's a whole lot of theory behind a "correctly executed strike" apart from hitting as hard as you can on the most exposed (little muscle or fat) and thinnest part of a bone, assuming you want to break it. But really, unless you're preventing death or serious injury to yourself or others I don't think
intentionally breaking someone's bones is justifiable.
ngl, you're probably trying to neutralise the threat as quickly as possible. Breaking a knife-wielding mad-man's arm is probably one of the best ways of doing this.
Also, have fun trying to average 5 minutes in actual cities.
Have you heard of London? It's fucking big. It's a fucking city. It has streets and traffic and buildings in it: in fact, London is pretty god-damned city-like a far as cities go. The point you attempt to bring forth is therefore a non-entity.
There isn't enough of a reason to hand every police officer in Britain with a deadly weapon for the purposes of killing. Not only that, but it would reduce police numbers in the UK, as (obviously) not every UK cop has to pass marksmanship tests.
DnalweN acilbupeR wrote:*snip
If the Officer has before the man reaches the 21ft zone notice, chances are they went into the situation knowing there was an edged weapon in the equation, or there was some axe wielding cider drinker screaming and running across the (very wet) somerset levels towards them. If not, then the pistol will do fuck-all, and the officer shouldn't be reaching for it.
For someone who seems continualyl convinced of how police are totalitarian and are oppressive or being bad, you seem to want the tyramny!levels to rise considerably in our little slice of 'can trust and speak to the more approachable police without having to fear them'.