police giving up

"The officers who shot Mark Duggan got away with what they did...the dodgy inquiry that exonerated the gunmen"

Dodgy only to uninformed people like yourselves who are determined to tell a specific narrative regardless of the evidence. So you are saying the Coroners Inquest was dodgy? You are saying the jurors who heard a vast amount of testimony that you were not privvy to were somehow corrupted? You are saying that the High Court got it wrong? That the Court of Appeal of England and Wales also got it wrong and that only you know the real truth? UFB.

"British police aren't like American "Law Enforcers" or whatever you have in Australia. Our police service is there to serve the people. That's why we call it a "Service". And it can only do what it does with the consent and support of the public. "

That is the bloody same in ANY democracy. FFS

"Men and women join the police to serve the public, not shoot them."
Again that's bloody true of all police in all democracies.

"gung-ho, trigger happy former soldiers to enjoy the buzz of soldiering only in an environment where the targets overwhelmingly don't shoot back."
Jeez you're full of it.

"At the end of the day, a decision for general arming of the police would be a political decision:"
NSS

"and with this present Parliament that simply isn't going to happen."
Never said it would. But you claim it will never, ever happen. Maybe it won't, but maybe it will. If the terrorist threat continues for years to come (which there is every reason to think that it will) and general knife and gun violence continues to escalate there may come a point where police 'services' are unable to recruit enough officers. If this situation ever comes about then the pollies and society may have to either look at arming operational police or accepting lower numbers than what is required (well you already have lower numbers than what is required but that's down to political cutbacks).

My point is that your saying "The chances of British police being routinely armed is 0. It's not going to happen. Ever. Not ever..... ever..... ever" is based on nothing other than your opinion (unless you are telling us you can foresee the future).

"At the end of the day, a decision for general arming of the police would be a political decision:"
NSS.

In many ways the routine arming of operational police is also a question of moral. If police feel they have sufficient support and protection then the status quo will remain. If a point is reached whereby police no longer feel the support and protection is sufficient then recruiting and retaining police officers will be significantly more difficult. In such a situation a change in policy is a distinct possibility. Now will this tipping point ever be reached? I don't know for unlike you I don't claim to know what the future holds.

"and with this present Parliament that simply isn't going to happen."
NEVER said it would. But you claim it will never, ever happen. Maybe it won't, but maybe it will. As I said, IF the terrorist threat continues for years to come (which there is every reason to think that it will) and general knife and gun violence continues to escalate then there may come a point where police 'services' are unable to recruit and retain enough officers. If this situation ever comes about then the pollies and society may have to either look at arming operational police or accepting lower numbers than what is required.

"The people of Britain DO NOT WANT a generally armed police service. Why do you think no political party makes it a manifesto commitment..?"

Show me where I said the majority of pollies, the public or serving officers themselves said that they want operational police to be routinely armed? Where did I say that? If you actually bothered to read what I wrote I said that down the track the environment in which police operate may become one where there pressure to arm operational police becomes difficult to ignore. My whole point was that one day it is possible that operational police may be routinely armed. It may never happen. But it might. Your point was simply that it will never, ever happen.

well, i'm English and my attitude has changed with regard the arming of the police.. I just read a headline , it's a report on a statement by the metropolitan police ( London ) commissioner .. speaking about the recent surrounding of police officers by 100 youths he said ' surrounding and attacking police and videoing it is a game that youths are playing.' I saw the same thing happen on a tv documentary .2 cops were attacked by kids with stones etc whilst they waited for a pick up truck. if we're at the stage where youths are actually bullying the police then we are in serious trouble. i'd rather be fearful of the police than fearful of packs of feral kids.

our police are increasingly not serving the people... they are on the back foot and running scared.

Police or not hired to serve and protect. Not in any form or fashion. They are not hired to prevent crime either.
The job of a police officer is to capture and transport any person or persons to jail so they can stand trail after they have become a person of interest by investigators / detectives. Or when said person or persons are caught committing a crime.
Serving and protecting the public and preventing crime all are side effects of the police officers capturing and transporting criminals to jail.

I learned this from a police officer who had been on the force for close to 20 years .