http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11622218
You can arm police to the teeth but the reality is it would make very little difference to an attack. Terrorists like the Mumbai group are suicide attackers. There is no escape plan, the attack is to kill as many as possible regardless of age or sex and then die themselves. Western civilisation is completely open to such.
lmagine 10 Derrick Birds armed with AK47's and explosives and splitting up into 2 groups or even pairs and then hitting various London targets on a busy Saturday afternoon. You simply cannot defend against such an attack. All you can do is damage limitation but that in itself is also limited by the very nature of the attack.
This arming and training of police by the SAS press release is just the Government saying 'We are doing something' because they know, as do the police, that there is little else they can do.
One wonders how you can train for such an incident as Mumbai in somewhere like London? The police may have access to more powerful weapons but actually using them would only be adding to the public casualties. Their recent exploits involving marksmanship hasn't exactly been inspiring h/t Ambush Predator
Seeing as they already have a vast array of firearms, one wonders what these more powerful weapons would be .... .50 cal? 20 mm cannon? 30 mm cannon? The armed forces are taking cuts because it seems we have another army ... called the Police Force!
Who should we be more afraid of ... the foreign 'terrorists' (who don't seem remotely interested in the UK) ... or the Police
Mmmmm, the bogeyman or the robocop? Has to be the robocop.
ReplyDeleteOMG! Today's police officers are mostly bullies, thugs or cowards - terrifying that they could become armed bullies thugs and cowards
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha, the cartoon is very realistic except for Save the Snail.
ReplyDeleteMore f'ing scaremongering. Your right SH the police frighten me more than terrorists. More so now they are giving them bigger guns. lt's f'ing crazy.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to deal with the occasional suicide terrorist attack? Just say, "Shit happens". Seriously, it's the only way.
ReplyDeleteFact: Police Firearms Officers have managed to expertly kill and injure more innocent people in England since 08JUL05 than the terrorists have.
ReplyDeleteFact: 9mm Para rounds tend to stay in the target, 5.56x45 & 7.62x51 go through the target and kill the person behind as well.
Fact: Semi-Auto is the only way to hit what you are aiming at. Automatic hits everything else, including sky/roof.
Question why do the police need anything more than the existing 9mm Semi-Autos, and the occasional sniper rifle?
Alternative: RAF Regiment are trained to deal with shooting people without damaging the aircraft and explosive equipment around the target that they are protecting. RAF Northolt is in London. Shared Services anybody?
Curently the police have the MP5 sub machine gun. It's single shot only and fires a pistol round. For more firepower they need an assault rifle firing a heavy calibre bullet and with a fully automatic setting active. An M16 would do or an M4 A1 carbine. The SA 80 is probably too heavy but might be used. But if I was a terrorist going on a spree I would invest in the best body armour I could get to improve my endurance when under retaliatory fire.
ReplyDeleteThe police appear to be asking for the M249 LMG, amongst other things.
ReplyDelete(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M249_light_machine_gun)
An SS109 5.56x45mm round (which can go through SA80 Rifles and M16's) will penetrate 5.5mm of Steel at 50m.
Using a 5.56 Nato round in a crowed urban environment would require great care, as there is no point in killing the terrorist, if you kill the citizen 30m's behind them down the street as well. (the round is lethal out to 5Km)
Automatic fire in such an environment is no different than lobbing hand grenades to get rid of the terrorists.
Unlike the TV/Film body armour, if you are shot with a 9mm from an MP5 at close range, you are not going to be jumping up and running away at great speed. Non-Penetrating bullet does not equal no injuries. (think being hit in the chest with a large hammer)
Terrorist tool of choice is the AK47, which use a 7.62x39 round (roughly 2000J energy, compared to the 3500J of the 7.62 Nato round, 1600j of the 5.56x45)
IMHO Given the posibility of a Mumbai style attack, there is a good case for better body armour and vehicle armour for the police, but no good case for military weapons.
Dear Mr Hot
ReplyDeleteThis is just our beloved NuLabour government manufacturing a British based state enforcement agency along the lines of the CRS, Carabiniere, Guardia Civil et al to administer the less popular parts of EU policy. Bear in mind that our real masters are the colonial administration of the empire based in Brussels.
Mission creep is part of the deal. ‘Highly trained’ paramilitary police with a licence to kill are not going to be happy sitting around for years waiting for something to happen within their remit. They will be deployed for ever trivial reasons. Give it 5 years and their killed tally will be: terrorists – nil; innocent and unarmed members of the public – an integer greater than nil.
DP