More police have to be armed now
OUR thoughts are with those who were killed or injured on Wednesday, their friends and families and, of course, the Met Police who ran towards danger and lost one of their own.
We visit London regularly as tourists and I have always been puzzled about why the police officers who stand on the gates of Parliament are unarmed, in contrast to those at Downing Street or Buckingham Palace.
As we move around tourist areas such as Trafalgar Square, we often see numerous police officers on foot patrol. But their presence alone doesn’t make me feel safe; they appear unarmed and, I assume, relatively ineffective if someone attempts to drive through crowds.
It is time that the Met let go of the Dixon of Dock Green image of London’s police force and arm their foot patrols at key locations in order to protect Londoners. A POLICEMAN has been needlessly killed by a man armed with a simple knife who nevertheless managed to get to within a few feet of the entrance to the Houses of Parliament. I dread to think how far a well-armed militant group could have got.
The first line of protection of our centre of democracy should be officers who are fully armed and protected, with the ability to immediately deploy an impenetrable barrier against armed attackers.
IN THE light of yesterday’s atrocities, we are told there will be a heightened police presence on London’s streets so that we may feel more secure going about our daily business. However, on Thursday morning on my commute to work during rush-hour through Kensington High Street, Gloucester Road, South Kensington and Chelsea, I did not see one police officer.
It begs the question — just who is the Metropolitan Police aiming to protect?