RIP
A tragic loss. We really need to do something about this epidemic. As a society we have to take some responsibility.
Rest in peace Flight
Just wanted to point out that he wasn’t an active cadet.
A spokeswoman for the air cadets said he had left the squadron in October 2013.
"He had been with us for 18 months and was well respected. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and his friends at this time."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41082048
Like what?
There is no easy or simple solution to sort of gang culture we see within certain communities.
The current crisis in London is directly linked to the reduction in Stop & Search activity which our beloved leader brought in as Home Secretary. In the past Gang Members expected to get spun on sight so tended not to go about routinely armed, now they don’t expect to be searched so are regularly carrying.
It’s not the sole solution, but the Police being allowed to get in pockets again would be a big step in the right direction.
Some of the knifes getting pulled are longer than the police batons. How did you vote on the recent survey?
It’s like something out of a Pirates of the Caribbean out there these days.
I’ve been in favour of universal arming for years.
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Me too - I’d happily carry a side-arm and I’d love to be an on-call, freelance sniper.
It’s an interesting debate in our office. When you point out that it only takes a few weeks to train to use a self loading pistol people seem to wake up.
If you work on the principle that you would maintain the specialist units at their current level and in their current roles it doesn’t need to be that long.
The basic AFO course is 4 weeks, of which 1 week is Pistol, 1 week is Carbine and 2 weeks are tactics. If you take out the Carbine and the vast majority of the tactics (tou are maintaining specialists for those elements) you can cut it down to a week.
If the officers are already Taser trained there is no reason you couldn’t cut it down to 2 or3 days. (The Law, Tactics, Decision Making Model and overall objective doesn’t change).
Indeed. I suspect the reason the gov won’t go there is cost. Yeah sure, Sigg or Glogg will give an amazing bulk discount but stupid procurement rules means it would have to go to tender. Then there’s all the cost of facilities, custodians, support techs, etc etc. Eye watering, but I’ll increasingly important.
How do you weed out those who should have a pen let alone a gun?
The rumour is that the MET already have enough Glocks to equip the whole Force if required.
I don’t buy into the whole “well such and such is a ming who shouldn’t be let loose with handcuffs let alone a gun” if they are that bad they need binning anyway.
The Government won’t do it because they care more about the opinions of the Guardian than they do about protecting Police Officers and the Public.
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I am more concerned with how long it takes to train people NOT to use them.
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One has t ask who authorised such a purchase as that surely must run into millions of pounds and is hard to hide on the budget books .
Come on, you know ever team has a muppet who manages to avoid discipline action but finds all the trouble 
Train to use includes the “not using” part too. Otherwise the default would be hand on pistol grip and pull trigger repeatedly
It’s like any government budget, if you have the money left on 31st March you need to spend it and no one cares on what!
Prevailing rumour is that it came out of the budget for the Olympics. (No evidence for that but nothing surprises me when it goes to Government spending).
That would make sense. Let’s hope they are oiled and stored somewhere dry