I vote for cops to start carrying.

[jrandom]

Mmmm. Guns.

Guns are cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.

Guns can kill anyone they want! Guns cut off heads ALL the time and don't even think twice about it. These things are so crazy and awesome that they flip out ALL the time. I heard that there was this gun that was eating at a diner. And when some dude dropped a spoon the gun killed the whole town. My friend Mark said that he saw a gun totally uppercut some kid just because the kid opened a window.

And that's what I call REAL Ultimate Power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love guns with all of my body (including my pee-pee).

[jrandom]

second ammendment gives Americans the right to 'bear arms'...

You ever seen a bear arm, dude? They're fucking hairy and smelly, man. Big-ass claws on the end. I wouldn't want one of those things hanging around my place.

[jrandom]

more than half the people I know who own guns do NOT have a firearms license. Its not hard to get guns if your willing to break the law.

True dat, and it's a shame.

Still, the law makes it just about impossible to get pistols or MSSAs that way. So yeah, Hemi Haku Gangbanger can drive by the house of some former associate and spray it with the Remington 7400 his mate picked up on TradeMe last week, but he's only got 7 shots, and he has to pull the trigger separately for each one. And he's SOL if he wants something to carry tucked under a loose shirt.

I feel safer already.

One mitigating approach would be to implement serial number registration of all firearms.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't work.

[Sniper]

One mitigating approach would be to implement serial number registration of all firearms.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't work.

They have that in SA and you are dead right in it doesnt help one little bit. House gets broken into and weapons stolen and then found at a crime scene, who's the one that gets the blame?

A lot of dickheads float round proclaiming that they will take any fucker on or beat the shit out of anyone standing in their way. I've been on the recieving end of pepper spray once and although it wasnt comfortable, it wouldnt slow me one bit. Never been hit by a tazer, but I presume it isnt nice, but you cant hit 2 or 3 people running at you with a tazer can you?

Im talking about police safety rather than we give them something to feel more powerful. Thats why I say, sort out a better qualifying system. 70% isnt good enough, thats 3 collaterals for 7 bad guys. Im sure they could do better.

[spudchucka]

right ... one for the KB Police ..

I prefer the British approach.....

[Monorail]

I 45th (i think i lost count) the motion. NZ needs a serious revamp, something for Sarge to do when he become emperor.

1. Sidearms for all NZ Police... at their sides.
2. Combat Shotguns and M16's in the boot, when you need firepower for multiple hostiles.
3. A counter terrorism unit rather than just the AO. Terrorists are matyrs so we need to blow the hell out of them asap before they blow innocents whereas AO would negotiate first.
4. The seperation of highway patrol and police!!!!

Yea thats about all, maybe Spiderman also. But seriously crime increased like 7-9% in the last annum. I'm planning on trying to be a cop when I leave college but hell unless they bring about some reforms i'd feel safer being a bloody bodyguard in Iraq or someplace. Maybe we need a citizen police force... who wants to form a militia?

[SARGE]

I 45th (i think i lost count) the motion. NZ needs a serious revamp, something for Sarge to do when he become emperor.

1. Sidearms for all NZ Police... at their sides.
2. Combat Shotguns and M16's in the boot, when you need firepower for multiple hostiles.
3. A counter terrorism unit rather than just the AO. Terrorists are matyrs so we need to blow the hell out of them asap before they blow innocents whereas AO would negotiate first.
4. The seperation of highway patrol and police!!!!

Yea thats about all, maybe Spiderman also. But seriously crime increased like 7-9% in the last annum. I'm planning on trying to be a cop when I leave college but hell unless they bring about some reforms i'd feel safer being a bloody bodyguard in Iraq or someplace. Maybe we need a citizen police force... who wants to form a militia?

yup... i feel ya bro

bling awarded

[WINJA]

I Vote Sniper Goes Back To His Own Country

[The_Dover]

I vote SARGE and SNIPER should have a civil union and then go put a few rounds in each other.

[Magua]

I Vote Sniper Goes Back To His Own Country

Seconded.

[Lou Girardin]

You can join, and always have been able to, the forces much younger

Play with real guns then.

They don't empty mags at moving cars on public streets.

BTW Does anyone know how many US cops are killed with their own guns each year?

[scumdog]

So the popular consensus on this thread is status quo? (Not the group, dickhead!)

Everybody seems quite happy with the mayhem around the country, 'P' adled dickheads creating mindless violence, gangs doing drive-bys, cretins with big drug debts robbing bank et al.

And then there is the pursruit aspect, too scared to go there.

And the risk of an innocent being pepper-sprayed too (diddums)

And the phoney quota speed ticket thing. (well NOBODY speeds -or speeds dangerously do they?)

So why not disband the police? would save a fortune and there would be no need for a should we/should we not arm the police.

Makes sense to me.

[SARGE]

So the popular consensus on this thread is status quo? (Not the group, dickhead!)

Everybody seems quite happy with the mayhem around the country, 'P' adled dickheads creating mindless violence, gangs doing drive-bys, cretins with big drug debts robbing bank et al.

mate .. i have total respect for what you guys do.. if i fuck up and get nailed at 160 kph then i will eat the ticket ( after trying to talk my way out of it n the side of the road naturally) Scummy.. you can confirm tis for me.. in the US on the highway system.. you often see "trains" of 8-10 cars rolling along at 85-90 mph on the open roads.. as long as you are keeping pace with traffic, most cops i know wont look twice.. ( the open road speed limit in the states out of populated areas is 75 mph)

i do NOT agree with speed cameras however but in understand that you guys are under-Resourced and it must be a bitch.. its already a hard job and its made harder by ass-clowns at the top and douchebags at the bottom..you guys are just doing the best you can with what you are given ( although i DO agree with a few people on here that there are a few power-trippers in the NZ Police Force.. all the ones i have met have been good guys .. i ride with a couple... they AINT slow)

i think that NZ, in its present climate, should have a totally armed police force. also very high training and recruitment standards and incentives for the ones that make it .. give you guys the latest police technology ( Tazers, EMP generators in you pursuit cars and computer terminals in-car like they have in the States) and make it easier to do your job ..




so yes .. arm and train you guys to the highest standards ..damn the cost.. just take funds from WINZ and Election spending and NZ really would be the great nation that the tourist pamphlets claim it to be..

just my .02

[Ixion]

,,,
So why not disband the police? would save a fortune and there would be no need for a should we/should we not arm the police.

Makes sense to me.

I have long pondered on that possibility. It is by no means absurd.

Here in Auckland the police have pretty well entirely abandoned most of what used to traditionally be their function.

Police involvement is now restricted to high profile/high publicity crimes, murder and a few other "big ticket" items, traffic, and anything that inconveniences big business.

They have abandoned any more than a perfunctionary interest in preventing , or pursuing, property crime, "minor" assaults (many of which are serious enough to cripple the victim for life), and most of the public order duties of old.

The "gap" thus left has, to at least some extent, been filled by private security forces such as Matrix security. Those guys are on the ball, every week you hear about them catching another lot of burglars, taggers, purse snatchers etc.

So it would seem quite possible to extend that paradigm

Leave the police with traffic , their main interest; the Diplomatic Protection Squad; Armed Offenders; and a core force to deal with "big time" crime - sort of like the FBI in America : murder, rape and such like.

Expand the role of private security forces by setting up legislated training standards and so on. Then allow city councils to contract for maintainance of law and order. Just like they do for other services. This isn't a unique notion: in the USA the Chief of Police is often an elected official.

From the point of view of the police, it would be almost business as usual : they don't do anything more than fill in a form nowadays for that sort of crime anyway. And the public could have as much (or as little) public order policing as they were willing to pay for.

However, in response to the original question, of arming the police (or, rather, visibly arming them), I would suggest that there would be no need for this if the politicians and judges did THEIR duty.

A very great deal of the present lawlessness is due to the fact that perpetrators know that they really have very little to fear. Sentences are a joke, and the willingness of courts to bundle a horrific series of criminal offending into a single concurrent sentence means that once a criminal has committed one crime he has no reason at all to hesitate to commit more.

Sort out the lily livered politicians and the left wing judges. Then see if the police can cut it or not.

[ManDownUnder]

So the popular consensus on this thread is status quo? (Not the group, dickhead!)

Everybody seems quite happy with the mayhem around the country, 'P' adled dickheads creating mindless violence, gangs doing drive-bys, cretins with big drug debts robbing bank et al.

And then there is the pursruit aspect, too scared to go there.

And the risk of an innocent being pepper-sprayed too (diddums)

And the phoney quota speed ticket thing. (well NOBODY speeds -or speeds dangerously do they?)

So why not disband the police? would save a fortune and there would be no need for a should we/should we not arm the police.

Makes sense to me.

I'm personally in favour of total accountability. If the cops have guns and use 'em they do so knowing their actions will be under the microscope. Likewise Joe Public.

What annoys ythe hell out of me are the confusing "rules of engagement". If someone is in my house and yelling and threatening and carrying on... at what point is a physical response warranted (or - I should say... accepteable to the courts) and at what point is lethal force warranted.

A lot of you guys know - I'm the first one to say step back, get out of the way, be reasonable. And I maintain that position. As I see it, the problem comes down to culture, and those "rules of engagement"

In Switzerland, every house has a gun in it, and every house has someone that's been in the military (i.e.... knows how to use said gun on anyone dumb enough to warrant it). The crime rate and number of shootings/firearm related crimes in CH is very very low. It's not the done thing, and if you did do something dumb you can really really expect to pay.

In the US... a lot of guns (in some states anyway), but the culture is more one of an entitlement to protect and defend your own. Less training than CH and I personally believe that's a major contributor to the higher gun related crime rate there.

In NZ... we have a lot of wannabe gangsters that grew up on video games, would be lucky if they've ever actually held a gun and when they get one in their hands they see it as the ultimate answer to all their juvenile woes. They suddently have power, and can do anything they want knowing those on the receiving end probably don't have a gun. That includes the police.

So - should the Police in NZ have guns? I'd ptrefer them not to, but recognise they probably need them. I'd also suggest that the change go hand in hand with an overall move to make crime less acceptable, and to empower the general public.

If I have someone break into my house, I'll yell at them to get out, and if they don't I reserve the right to escalate it. I'd like to know the neighbours can come and help, holding the bastards down (and not get done for assault), adn I'd like to know the court will sensibly interpret my actions and hold me reasonably accountable for them.

Too much PC BS around at the moment. If the best thing to do is tie some idiots hands together while I deal with the mess they made, then I'd like to be able to do that, call the cops and look after my family.

Can we do that in NZ? No. Can a crim reasonbably expect to get away with blue murder (literally...)... yes.