Female Cop Murdered; British Police Want Guns
Jim Kouri, CPP
November 22, 2005
The two female officers, both unarmed and with little more than 20 months of law enforcement experience, were subjected to gunfire by suspects during a travel agency robbery. The officers were responding to an alarm from the agency.
The alarm activation was initially sent to a central alarm station and the police were in turn notified. The nearest officers to respond were two unarmed female officers in their 30s.The responding officers were shot by the robbers and subsequently taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary where one officer, Sharon Beshenivsky died, while the other, Teresa Milburn, is suffering from a serious but not life-threatening wound after being hit in the shoulder.
This latest cop killing - the first British female officer to be killed in the line of duty in four years - renewed calls for police to be better protected including allowing them to carry sidearms. This is a controversial issue in Britain, especially in London. This latest cop-killing highlights the rampant use of firearms by criminals in spite of some of the world's toughest gun control laws. Britain always prided itself in not needing armed law enforcement officers to patrol the streets and maintain the peace.
According to police superiors investigating the incident, this was not a call where the officers knew in any way before they got there that this was a robbery in progress or that firearms were either in use or were threatened. The two officers responded to the activated alarm unarmed and they were gunned down by the robbery suspects.
Detectives are questioning five men and a woman from London's Somali community in connection with the murder and attempted murder of police officers. The six alleged robbers were traced to the a southeast London neighborhood by West Yorkshire Police's homicide and major investigations unit using a "Big Fish," an automatic auto license plate number recognition system. They believe others may have been involved in the shootings and continue their search for suspects.
The powers that control the police departments are still not budging from their position of not arming cops. A Home Office spokesperson told members of the news media that the policy in Britain has long been that the police should not generally be armed and that gives a character to their policing that they shouldn't give up.
On the otherside of the debate is a police activist, Norman Brennan, who is demanding a ballot vote of all British law enforcement officers on whether they wanted to be armed no matter what their function. As it stands, only special units of police are permitted to carry firearms.
In a statement by Brennan, who's director of Protecting the Protectors, a police officers advocacy group, he says, "The time has come for an informed debate and a ballot of officers from every force on the full-time arming of the British police service.
"The adage that if you arm the police more criminals will carry guns is nonsense. The police service are being outgunned on the streets of Britain day and night. The romantic image of the unarmed 'bobby on the beat' has to be consigned to the history books.
"If police officers are to retain the highest confidence of the public and their own morale, surely the time has come for them to be able to defend themselves and the British public with every means possible. If that includes the routine carrying of firearms, then so be it."
Michael Winner, the well-known motion picture director, who founded the Police Memorial Trust after the 1984 shooting of Officer Yvonne Fletcher, is also backing the routine arming of frontline officers.
He said, "They are massively at risk and the only way to protect them is to give them body armor at all times or to arm them. I think they should be armed."
The Metropolitan Police Commission, Sir Ian Blair, doesn't see it that way and opposes the arming of his officers. He claims that the British isles possess the only unarmed police in the world except for New Zealand. But his critics say New Zealand's violent crime rate is no where near Britain's.
Surprisingly, the Police Federation, the union representing rank-and-file cops in Britain, is opposed to arming its membership. One officer believes it's more of a political position and that a ballot vote of cops would show most officers want firearms.
Earlier this year, the Queen unveiled the Norman Foster and Per Arnoldi-designed marble and glass National Police Memorial, which contains the names of 1,600 officers. It is the culmination of a ten-year campaign for a tribute to police killed on duty, orchestrated by film director Michael Winner.
Winner, best known for his films "Death Wish," "Scorpio," "The Stone Killer," and "The Sentinel," has called for a memorial ever since he established the police memorial trust after the shooting of Officer Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in 1984.
The alarm activation was initially sent to a central alarm station and the police were in turn notified. The nearest officers to respond were two unarmed female officers in their 30s.The responding officers were shot by the robbers and subsequently taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary where one officer, Sharon Beshenivsky died, while the other, Teresa Milburn, is suffering from a serious but not life-threatening wound after being hit in the shoulder.
This latest cop killing - the first British female officer to be killed in the line of duty in four years - renewed calls for police to be better protected including allowing them to carry sidearms. This is a controversial issue in Britain, especially in London. This latest cop-killing highlights the rampant use of firearms by criminals in spite of some of the world's toughest gun control laws. Britain always prided itself in not needing armed law enforcement officers to patrol the streets and maintain the peace.
According to police superiors investigating the incident, this was not a call where the officers knew in any way before they got there that this was a robbery in progress or that firearms were either in use or were threatened. The two officers responded to the activated alarm unarmed and they were gunned down by the robbery suspects.
Detectives are questioning five men and a woman from London's Somali community in connection with the murder and attempted murder of police officers. The six alleged robbers were traced to the a southeast London neighborhood by West Yorkshire Police's homicide and major investigations unit using a "Big Fish," an automatic auto license plate number recognition system. They believe others may have been involved in the shootings and continue their search for suspects.
The powers that control the police departments are still not budging from their position of not arming cops. A Home Office spokesperson told members of the news media that the policy in Britain has long been that the police should not generally be armed and that gives a character to their policing that they shouldn't give up.
On the otherside of the debate is a police activist, Norman Brennan, who is demanding a ballot vote of all British law enforcement officers on whether they wanted to be armed no matter what their function. As it stands, only special units of police are permitted to carry firearms.
In a statement by Brennan, who's director of Protecting the Protectors, a police officers advocacy group, he says, "The time has come for an informed debate and a ballot of officers from every force on the full-time arming of the British police service.
"The adage that if you arm the police more criminals will carry guns is nonsense. The police service are being outgunned on the streets of Britain day and night. The romantic image of the unarmed 'bobby on the beat' has to be consigned to the history books.
"If police officers are to retain the highest confidence of the public and their own morale, surely the time has come for them to be able to defend themselves and the British public with every means possible. If that includes the routine carrying of firearms, then so be it."
Michael Winner, the well-known motion picture director, who founded the Police Memorial Trust after the 1984 shooting of Officer Yvonne Fletcher, is also backing the routine arming of frontline officers.
He said, "They are massively at risk and the only way to protect them is to give them body armor at all times or to arm them. I think they should be armed."
The Metropolitan Police Commission, Sir Ian Blair, doesn't see it that way and opposes the arming of his officers. He claims that the British isles possess the only unarmed police in the world except for New Zealand. But his critics say New Zealand's violent crime rate is no where near Britain's.
Surprisingly, the Police Federation, the union representing rank-and-file cops in Britain, is opposed to arming its membership. One officer believes it's more of a political position and that a ballot vote of cops would show most officers want firearms.
Earlier this year, the Queen unveiled the Norman Foster and Per Arnoldi-designed marble and glass National Police Memorial, which contains the names of 1,600 officers. It is the culmination of a ten-year campaign for a tribute to police killed on duty, orchestrated by film director Michael Winner.
Winner, best known for his films "Death Wish," "Scorpio," "The Stone Killer," and "The Sentinel," has called for a memorial ever since he established the police memorial trust after the shooting of Officer Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in 1984.
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