We've got too many guns. The London police are, for the record more heavily armed than some militaries at tourist sites, public events, sporting events, airports, etc.

What would work better, IMO, is professional licensing boards. A backstop against local inaction, as well as a way to prevent bad cops from moving from jurisdiction to jurisdiction (because there would be a record). We do that with teachers and nurses, so why not cops?

It could also require them to take X number of classes in relevant areas, such as "not shooting first" and "not being an asshole."

http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2353-i-was-cop-in-country-with-no-guns-6-startling-truths.html

Most of the british cops are unarmed. They solve problems with words. And if that doesn't work, it's time for fisticuffs. Because almost nobody over there has a gun.

And if they DO run into an armed criminal, they call for backup and SWAT does the shooty-shooty part.





From the article:

If you can't go big, you have to go subtle, and that was the approach I took. I put my hands in my pocket and sauntered over, calling his name. As soon as he saw the uniforms, he immediately went from zero to 60. The lad, and I could see now he wasn't much over 18, dropped his trousers to the floor and started shouting.

The conversation went something like this:

Him: Well go on, fucking search me, then! I know you want to.

Me: Not really, squire. I was pretty much hoping not to have to take my hands out of my pockets today.

Him: You wot?

Me: You got anything naughty on you?

Him: Fucking search me, fed. Find out.

Me: Nah, your word's good enough for me. Got some folks here worried about you, John.

Him: Ain't you going to cuff me up?

Me: Hadn't planned to. You want to do anything that'll need cuffing?

Him: No.

Me: Well then. All settled. Let's get you to a hospital, shall we?

And basically, that was that. No handcuffs, no shouting, and, most critically, no guns. John got treatment at the local mental health wing and was fine until the next time he went off his meds. Of course, I found out that the next time, officers listened too closely to their radios and went big early. John broke one of their arms and bit a finger nearly clean off.


...


Have I been injured? Sure, a few times. Nothing that left me with more than a few stitches or a bit of a concussion, though. Nearly got tipped over a seventh-story balcony once when our area car driver baited a very excitable chap who, as we found out, didn't have a sense of humor.

But the vast majority of injuries on duty are from fists, feet, impacts with pavement, and, very occasionally, knives and improvised weapons. There is a certain dark joy in having a tussle for street police. Since no one is going to get shot, both cop and criminal can get into a good, healthy fight, and a hell of a lot of these will not get reported as assault on police (there's no specific crime called "resisting arrest" here).

There are at least 270 million of them out there.

You have no argument. Probably why one wasn't truly presented.

Today I'm going to teach you to peel an orange. I have this shrimp to use as an example.