Time for police to take up arms
RSHOULD our police be routinely armed? Once upon a time, I would have argued passionately that they should not. Once upon a time, the thought of officers on the beat carrying pistols strapped to their hips would have made me deeply uneasy. Once upon a time, comparisons with trigger-happy cops in the United States would have sprung to mind.
Once upon a time.Times change. This week, watching the chilling chest-camera footage of unbelievably brave, unarmed police officers confronting the ruthless trio of knifemen rampaging through Borough Market, I changed my mind.The police were completely defenceless against the three armed terrorists.
Their deadly rampage was only brought to an end with the arrival of armed officers, who shot them dead at more or less point-blank range. Until that moment, Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, had free rein to kill and mutilate.
Yes, late-night bakery workers who courageously joined police in pursuit of the killers had armed themselves – with two plastic bread-baskets and a broom. Not exactly the most effective defence against men wielding razor-sharp six-inch blades strapped to their wrists and apparently festooned in suicide belts. Especially as the fanatics were hunting in a well co-ordinated pack.
Footage from the police video – only now made public after the
inquest into the terrorists’ deaths – shows an unarmed officer desperately calling for armed response support.
If he and his colleagues had been carrying their own pistols, they could have extinguished the threat on the spot.
In March 2017, PC Keith Palmer died from stab wounds as he struggled with bare hands to prevent a knife-wielding Isis supporter from charging into the Palace of Westminster. Khalid Masood had already rammed his car into pedestrians onWestminster Bridge before attacking PC Palmer, 48. Had the officer been carrying a handgun, he could have dropped Masood in his tracks.
One of the traditional arguments (and until recently, justified ones) against routinely arming ordinary officers was that the sight of British bobbies carrying sidearms would somehow be unsettling, even threatening.
I think that time has passed. I spend a lot of time in France, where humble municipal gendarmes routinely wear holstered pistols on duty. I don’t feel threatened by that. In fact, since the recent horrific lorry attack on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice – carnage that was only halted when two passing gendarmes drew their weapons and shot the homicidal driver dead through his windscreen – I actually feel comforted and reassured.
Arming our own police on a routine, daily basis would be a huge departure from a historic norm
– but then, so is the sight of machine-gun toting cops at our domestic airports. But we’ve got used to that, haven’t we?
Our next prime minister will have a lot on his plate. (Oh all right, Boris will have a lot on his plate). But a proper, well-informed public debate about arming British bobbies should be near the top of the agenda.
Times have changed. Our police need to be able to properly protect themselves – and us.