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I think what D_H is asking, apologies if I'm mistaken, is what happens if an armed officer who's got an MP5 round their neck sees someone say nick a chocolate bar from a corner shop? Are they going to just swing the gun onto their back and arrest the suspect the old fashioned way?
Is there not risk for a firearms officer whenever they are involved in a situation but don't have hands on their gun?
PhilDAS-
Well armed coppers are there for a specific reason so any distraction from that could mean something will go wrong. You can't go rolling about on the ground with some urchin when you're all kitted up however you have to weigh up your options and threats. Is what is happening a deliberate distraction to take you away from your primary function? If you can detain someone for an unarmed cop to take away then that could be your option but you've always got to be aware that you cannot be sidetracked. It's a serious thing to be carrying a firearm about on the streets of the UK and if you're put in a postion where you have to use it you have to justify it. If you've put yourself into a situation you didn't need to be in then justification is more difficult.
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Yeah that’s exactly it, does minor crime that doesn’t warrant firing a gun get ignored to an extent?
Having said that, my friends got nicked by armed police for pinching a cardboard cutout of Noel Edmonds - difference being it was a van that happened to be passing by and the big guns stayed in the van!
Constable_Savage
Dramatic_Hammer
That photo was 2003 so the MP5, Glock pistol, CS spray, handcuffs and an extending baton was it because I was in a "private" area. Now, out in the wild, armed cops have pepper spray, a baton, a taser, a sidearm (Glock) and an MP5 or maybe a longer weapon. This all depends on where they are deployed. Every encounter you have involves the cop thinking about where on the scale of equipment they start then whether to escalate or de-escalate. Everything has to be justified on a use of force form (unless you're the Met, probably)
Edit: At places like Chequers you'd also carry a couple of smoke grenades.