Re: [SG2] You'll never take me alive, coppers:Was RE: PA availability

At 14:01 20/09/98 -0400, Tom wrote:
>the british police are roughly:
>> 1) Unarmed
 95% of british police. most forces (it's organised on a county basis)
have
pepper spray, 
 and all have truncheons. this also goes for the MPs i have seen (i live
in
a garrison 
 town, and every friday night you see them hanging about outside some
pubs
and club waiting to pounce on disorderly squaddies).

Note that american miltary bases are policed in an American style i.e.
armed police and there are *many* places in the Uk that have armed
security
even though they are technically civilian buildings. *ALL* the royal
residences have a permanent army security force. Most of the navy
shipyards
and airbases do too. Even some of the more vital 'service' buildings do
-
I've got reliable info that london's main power and telecomms hubs have
guards with SMG's, just in case one of our more eccentric Irish friends
decides to attempt to press a point. That's as well as the places
mentioned
below. I think you can presume any nuclear facility has some sort of
armed
security presence too.
 
>> 2) Armed
>i think there is a policy that a patrol car with a firearm must be on
call
within n minutes (where n is 10-15). i'm not sure if this was a proposal
or
is implemented.
Different forces have different policies about this - specially since
one
of Merseyside's ARV's (Armed Response Vehicles) was stolen recently. I
think things are tending back to having the response teams on station at
local headquarters, rather than on patrol. Of course, it also depends on
the number of trained frearms officers in the force - the Met has an
*awful* lot more of those than, say, some of the scots forces.

>> 3) Paramilitary
>airport police have smg's and body armour, due to terrorism. there are
armed police units that are called out to deal with some gun-related
incidents, such as sieges of armed robbers, etc. i think that they are
regular coppers with extra training, and the unit only assembles as
needed.
not sure about this one. they are certainly not SWAT in the US sense.
Used to be that way, not any more. These days officers are seconded to
the
response/security squads for a certain period of time, like any other
area
they might be assigned to. I think a 'tour of duty' is something like 18
months. Serious specialists (sharpshooters mostly) are permanent.  I
think
they found that policeman couldn't cope as well with switching roes so
quickly.

>> 4) Military
>serious stuff, like iranians holding hostages, is dealt with by the
SAS.
the army also provide 'security' in ulster (well, they used to, then
they
were largely withdrawn, and now i think they're back). the army/air
force
also provide men and appliances when the firemen go on strike. the army
were also called in in the general strike early this century, and no
doubt
would be on the streets of the UK if such social unrest developed again.

Not sure about that bit, but you're right about one thing - the brit
police
isn't stupid enough to attempt to resolve a situation they aren't
equipped
for. They are *not* going to go after groups of trained terrorists with
military grade weapons. They leave that to the army, or occasionally
special branch seconded ex-army people.
 
How do I know all this? My (ex) next door neighbour was a police
sharpshooter. Some *very* scary stuff in his house.

			TTFN
				Jon

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"Information doesn't want to be free, it wants to be liberated and
expensive"
Jonathan White, Psychology Section, Bolton Institute
BWFC fans list site : www.sar.bolton.ac.uk/bwfclist