UK Gun Crime - If the Police Are Getting Shot...

Gun crime in Britain is by no means one of the more common crimes commited in the country. But after the events of Friday 18th November in Bradford where a WPC was fatally shot, even this small proportion of crime becomes the more concerning.

Home Office spin off website has the figure of gun crime as a proportion of all crime down as 0.17%. Tiny percentage. Huge number.
When you consider that the Crime Statistics website states that there and around a about 6 million crimes recorded each year (assumingly the figure is up this year than on the year to March 2004).

Still, a conservative estimate means that this figure translates to 25 gun crimes a day in this country.

When I first heard of the story I thought it would have to be a shot to the face. Turns out the officer was shot in the chest. Body armour only offers limited ballistic protection. My god what a message to send out.
We will send unarmed, poorly armoured police officers to attend armed robberies.

This doesn't do much for public faith in the force. If the police cannot effectively protect themselves then how are they expected to protect us?

Rather alarmist I know, but my perception of gun crime was lower than what it really is, not something expected by the Home Office.

Armed police for armed crimes, surely.

Technorati Tag = Public Protection Gun Crime