Is it time for British bobbies to be routinely armed?

[Thundertaker]

http://www.theweek.co.uk/crime/police-s ... ish-police

It was the funeral today for one of the officers murdered by Dale Cregan, and the whole situation has re-ignited the debate on whether the police in Britain should be routinely armed. Personally, I don't think they should, as it would alter the relationship between the public and the police would change for the worse, and most police agree. However, I do believe that anyone who murders a police officer in the line of duty should be a candidate for the death penalty as an aggravated murderer, as should anyone who murders a judge or a juror as a result of their work.

[The Comrade]

why is murdering an officer morally worse than murdering anyone?

[Homer]

No, they shouldn't be armed. And enough with the death penalty crap. We haven't had it for 50 years, it's not going to come back.

[Thundertaker]

[Thundertaker]

[The Comrade]

[The Comrade]

[Thundertaker]

[OGPhilly]

Let me pose a quick scenario for you. This happened in Philadelphia some years back. A guy goes into a Dunkin Donuts and attempts to rob it with a handgun. A cop walks in (coincidentally) and attempts to stop the robbery. The robber, by all witness accounts, panics when he sees the officer coming toward him and shoots him. So it was an on-duty cop who walked in on a robbery, startled the robber, and got shot. The officer dies, the gunman flees. They catch him a day or two later and are all gung ho about giving this guy the death penalty cause he's a "cop killer".

As I see it, he's a twitchy robber who got scared and panicked. I lost track of the case so I don't know if he's been sentenced, but to me, it's pretty stupid that everyone was so worked up about this dude being some kind of diabolic cop killer when in all likelihood his plan was to rob the store without shooting anyone.

[The Comrade]