Flinders wrote: ... I'd far rather trust the military than the police when it comes to situations with firearms. It seems to me that's more in their line of work, and I'm all for specialisation..................
Sorry to be winding back, but I'd prefer to concentrate on things that have happened rather than speculative scenarios.
I've little experience of the armed services and most of what little I have had has been with what are colloquially known as bomb disposal. I can only say that their skill and bravery seem only to be matched by their modesty. However, I don't observe the armed forces more generally through tinted specs.
It must be obvious that more firearms = a greater risk of firearms related trouble - one of the biggest advatages IMO of police who are not routinely armed - but some of the armed forces' reported incidents don't instil confidence. This report about the murder of a Royal Navy submarine's commanding officer by an armed naval guard has some amazing evidence about who is considered suitable to carry firearms.
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/1014082 ... _revealed/There's been a lot of media publicity recently about deaths of soldiers at Deepcut Barracks. It seems a common pattern has been that young, inexperienced people still in training have been posted alone on nightime guard duty with a powerful firearm. There must have been countless times when such sentries have completed a period of duty alive and well and emerged with that bit more experience but it does seem to be risky.
The only terrorist incident I can immediately remember in England when the police handed over control to the Army was at the siege of the Iranian Embassy. Tactically brilliant (a phrase I've chosen to keep it to the way firearms are used) but if canteen gossip remembered from that time is correct, it was officially considered something of a failure to the extent that one of the hostage-takers "mingled with the crowd" and so was not killed with all his fellow conspirators.
Since I retired, there have been proposals for direct entry to the senior ranks of English police forces: former services officers and American police chiefs have been offered as examples of the type of people who would be ideal. Perhaps the govt., feels that people experienced in using firearms as a first option are better able to lead in these troubled times than are those still more used to other approaches.
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Forgot this:
the police had not cordoned off the area before starting their fun and games.
With no knowledge of what started this incident it's only possible to offer general comment, but I cannot see how if something starts unexpectedly, it's possible to arrange things like a cordon. Where would the people be found to do it so quickly? AFAIK, the general arrangement now for dealing with unplanned firearms incidents is that armed officers attend in incident cars - prompt attendance being of the essence. Without wanting to sound facetious, I can't see how it would be possible to replace them with personnel carriers, with a dozen people in the back.
What brought me back to this was thinking about the only firearms incident I've witnessed as a passer-by. Some years ago, before Sunday trading, we were driving back from holiday along Wetherby Road in Leeds approaching the major junction commonly known as the Fforde Grene (after the pub.) Traffic was held up and as we slowly moved forward, I eventually saw a police war with beacon flashing. A bit nearer and you could see armed uniform police challenging the occupants of a car. Nearer still and looking ahead instead of at the action, I saw somebody in plain clothes (presumably a policeman) trying to direct traffic. Not text book. I checked afterwards and it was an unplanned but operationally necessary action against people with firearms. Unlike films, there's not always time to plan the set nor to do a few retakes till it seems OK.
One of the things I realised seeing that was how complicated things would have become on a busier day if a sympathetic crowd had formed with some deciding to get involved.
