New "anti-knife" powers for Brit. police

[FieldDiscipline]

I hope he's good!

 

[Tez3]

I hope he's good!

Scarily so! he got stabbed in the back a few years back when he was out on a call during the amby strike and he was dealing with a patient. Didn't know until he got to the hospital and a nurse asked him who's blood was on his back - his!
He's of the Geoff Thompson school, trained with him. He's best mates with Ian Freeman too.

 

[Ahriman]

FieldDiscipline: those who carry knives for self-reassuring are usually in the ranks of thugs, or are simply so stupid that their removal from the gene pool is not a loss.
We can handle things unarmed, but that has numerous disadvantages... and in a fight I want all the possible advantages on MY side. A previously planned surprise attack, certain drugs, alcohol under certain levels, certain mental disorders, having "friends" are all possible advantages on the "bad guy" side even if he/she is unarmed and when they're combined it becomes even worse. I try to be constantly aware of my surroundings, but it's impossible to be always alert. I know what I'm able to achieve by speaking, by my unarmed skills or by my weapons and I always try to use that skill which has the least legal problems while solving the given problem, but there are situations where I don't really want to rely only on my unarmed training.
And there are situations where I know that I will either cooperate or I will likely die. Fortunately I didn't yet have to be in such a case.
...
Tez3: whoa, that's truly scarily good! Good luck for you all...

 

[Tez3]

FieldDiscipline: those who carry knives for self-reassuring are usually in the ranks of thugs, or are simply so stupid that their removal from the gene pool is not a loss.
We can handle things unarmed, but that has numerous disadvantages... and in a fight I want all the possible advantages on MY side. A previously planned surprise attack, certain drugs, alcohol under certain levels, certain mental disorders, having "friends" are all possible advantages on the "bad guy" side even if he/she is unarmed and when they're combined it becomes even worse. I try to be constantly aware of my surroundings, but it's impossible to be always alert. I know what I'm able to achieve by speaking, by my unarmed skills or by my weapons and I always try to use that skill which has the least legal problems while solving the given problem, but there are situations where I don't really want to rely only on my unarmed training.
And there are situations where I know that I will either cooperate or I will likely die. Fortunately I didn't yet have to be in such a case.
...
Tez3: whoa, that's truly scarily good! Good luck for you all...

I'm sorry I should have explained a little more I think, my instructor was a soldier ( did 22years) and a few years back the ambulance workers went on strike here so the military did their job, he was in a military ambulance. We also had a couple of firemens strikes too where the military covered.
My instructor is a close protection officer, he's also done the doors (bouncer/doorman) in some rough areas. He doesn't carry a knife but has a gun license. He also believes in using whatever is to hand to defend himself with.

 

[Adept]

I'd link directly to the movie "V for Vendetta" right now if I could. To reduce the number of deaths? People need to be able to defend themselves within the protection of the law.

That would imply that the lack of ability for a 'victim' to defend themselves is a factor in the 'offenders' decision making process.

While that may be true in some cases, it certainly isn't in the problem cases being discussed.

These problem cases are mostly instances of gangs of youths going out deliberately to fight other gangs of youths, which is why I use the terms 'victim' and 'offender' lightly. Most of the time there is no such distinction.

Allowing more relaxed self defense laws isn't going to change that kind of crime one bit (although it would hopefully make life more bearable for that non-criminal element of society). Banning knives, or giving the police the power to search without due cause isn't going to change it either. Although at least it might give the police the ability to lay some charges and get these scrotes off the streets more quickly.

It's important to remember that the target of these laws isn't the regular folks in society, nor is the target crime the old 'criminal vs civilian' mugging, theft or assault. It's inter-criminal, inter-gang crime which is effected by legislation differently.