There you go - we are very proud of our police. They are brave and distinctly professional - I would certainly prefer them to the paramilitary types we see in the US.
Kevlar Protection items
- Thread starter scott - coates
- Start date
-
Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
There you go - we are very proud of our police. They are brave and distinctly professional - I would certainly prefer them to the paramilitary types we see in the US.
Unfortunately it's getting that way here as well. I see officers wearing shorts and polo shirts with the badge embroideried on.
okay, so our chaps being either on foot or if in a car being ready to bolt after some one, it makes sense to me that they wear their BA at all times, being able to lift your kit off your waist on a duty belt and on to your more stable load vest body armour again make sense to me, it spreads the load and can hold things firmer rather than bouncing deterrent spray pouches or cramming all the things deemed necessary to carry onto a belt, also freeing up your hips for running, if they have to wear the kit it may as well be put to use rather than wearing it and a duty belt,
though some see the vests as paramilitary,
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2012/september/14/police_uniforms.aspx
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2012/september/14/police_uniforms.aspx
All good points, especially when you look at the differences in our use of force compared to the justification for use of force in other countries such as the US. (US are far better at allowing the use of force)
These are utter rubbish vests but have been adopted to allow you to carry stop and search books and other bits of paperwork/kit. I prefer the other ones previously pictured without pouches or pockets.
Never said they weren't Red. Granted there was the odd one every now and then who was more interested in protecting certain individuals (that they had gone to grade school with) from prosecution rather than serving justice; but most that I met while stationed there were very good.
It wasn't reality I was calling into question, rather the image.
Its relatively a new thing over here, the Met Police still wear shirts. But I speak from experience when I say shirts under your armour give you massive chaffing when its warm.
Point to note: Current issue tshirts are a temporary measure and cost about £1.
I'm not sure I follow you about having to wear your kit at all times. That's the same on both sides of the pond.
Or is it because I mentioned the gear carried in the car? That would not be something you wear. That was my files of forms in the trunk, as well as the rifle, shotgun, traffic flares, paramedic kit, computor link to dispatch, and a vehicle mounted radio cabable of communicating the distances required over here. As you can see those aren't things you would carry on your person.
As for practicality, it works both ways. The vest definitely lets you spread the load better. But it also gets hung up easily on fences, widow sills, etc. when chasing a suspect (a similar reason for why the Marines in Afghanistan don't wear there vests at all unless ordered too)
I have first hand knowledge of the fact that USMC do wear vests whenever out of an armoured vehicle or in a static point, the only lunatics in the USMC that dont seem to be EOD.
Vest are a pain they make it harder to do anything, after wearing heavy armour on Ops thats one thing but thrying to do daily tasks in the UK with it on life becomes awkward very quickly, christ going for a pee can become emotional at times.
Trouble in the UK is a lack of backup, we dont have computers in cars, at best Blackberries or PDA's that dont work.
On your 1st point: It's likely that by now all the Marine units have orders to wear them.
On your 2nd point: Tell me about it! I'm glad I don't do that any more.
On your 3rd point: Not all departments over here have back-up either. I was fortunate to work for a larger department; but there are counties with only 17 personel on staff total. That's including the Sheriff, the secretary, and the corrections deputies (who cain't leave the jail unattended so they're unavailable for back-up) All in all, that county only ever has 2 deputies on patrol at a given time (3 on a lucky day) One on either end of the county. It takes 25-40 minute to get from one end of the county to the other if they should need to back
Wasnt that dealt with by the Military Police who were in combat uniform as opposed to dress uniform?
No. The civilian DOD police (attached to the military police) They were in standard police uniforms as I used to wear. Some (but not all) of the DOD officers are deputized as US Marshals. They have to have them on instalations with a civilian population (and Ft Hood has a large civilial workforce in addition to the military population) aren't accountable under military law. Add to that the fact that the military (including military police) are prohibitted by law from enforcing civilial law, and you can see the need for a civilian officer with law enforcement authority on a large instalation.
Last edited:
LOL. Look up. I edited the first post.
Add to that the fact that there aren't many military police stateside; most are deployed ATM.
Lost in translation there
I see we have Defence Police too, but they are rubbish.
The quality of ours varies. They are all trained locally and some bases do better than others. I've never dealt with Ft Hood's police (military or civilian) but apparently they responded well.
