Special constables to be given access to stun guns in new crime measures

8 comments
  1. Oh good, we’re arming the volunteers.

    How about we hire more actual Police Officers!? Or would that cut into the tax breaks we’re giving their rich friends?

  2. I’ve nothing against stun guns provided the officers have been trained and they are used to apprehend criminals under reasonable suspicion.

    The problem is they are also removing the reasonable suspicion so they may be used simply to remove someones liberty on the whim of said police officers.

    And in that case I also have nothing against members of the public using equal force against the police to maintain their liberty when they’ve done nothing wrong. This is quite dangerous now but wait until there is an established pattern of police even in a small area using their new powers irresponsibly. Because of the innate power imbalance that becomes state sponsored oppression. Once it has members of the public are justified in using force to maintain their liberty proactively.

    Police are trained well here as opposed to the over-militarised mess in the USA, but it’s about optics as much as reality. If the optics is bad it’ll be a hell of a recruitment drive for the gangs, and normal folk will stop reporting or cooperating. Every middle class tween roadman in England is going to be egging their mates on to drop breezeblocks onto policecars.

    And it all depends now how individual incidents are handled and whether the press can report them responsibly. There *might* be enough good police, but I guarantee we don’t have a responsible press.

  3. If they get the same taser training as regular officers then I don’t see the problem. Ideally all front line officers should carry tasers.

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