Churchill Would Have Armed Her
A Seattle Post-Intelligencer story about the shooting quotes Jan Berry, chairwoman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, who said she doubted that arming police officers would make them safer. "Even if we armed every single police officer in this country that doesn't mean criminals aren't going to carry firearms," she told Sky News television.
What an astonishing reaction from an organization that purports to represent the interests of police officers to the government.
The Seattle P-I quote may have been Berry's fast reaction to reporters, though, because on the Federation's web site Berry calls for "more officers to be given firearms training as they face increasing danger on the streets of Britain." She continues, "We have seen an increase in gun crime year on year and police officers out on the streets are telling us that our resilience is just not enough."
England may want to move a little faster on arming their officers to deal with the growing threat. It's bad enough when British subjects are left defenseless against armed criminals. Requiring police officers to actively engage them without the proper tools is madness.