Should British Cops be armed?
Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:02 am
Inside Scotland Yard's secret CO19 gun cop unit | News | News Of The World
Click on link to see video.
IT’S the one police squad always in the firing line—Scotland Yard’s secret elite CO19 gun cops.
They go in hard, fast and are trained to kill if necessary. Their tough, no- nonsense style will shock many and when they get it wrong they’re under fire yet again—from critics and the courts.
But this 550-strong team of the Metropolitan Police’s finest are often all that stands between us, the innocent public, and the ruthless thugs, drug dealers and terrorists armed to the teeth with guns and explosives.
Evil
CO19’s officers are still living in the shadow of the bungled 2005 operation that ended with the shooting and death of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, mistaken for a terrorist on the London Underground.
And now for the first time they have allowed cameras to follow them as they tackle frontline crime on London’s streets. This unprecedented warts and all footage is an eye-opener—never before has a British police force agreed to show its hardline tactics so openly.
You can see a clip on the video player further down this page.
Senior officers insist their methods are vital in a city where they are confronted with an explosion of violence—two people shot every day—and gunmen as young as 15 tooled up and wandering the streets in bullet-proof vests.
CO19’s Sgt Matt Smith says: “Let’s be perfectly honest about it, we’re a necessary evil.
“If I could choose, then I would live in a society where police officers don’t need guns. Unfortunately, that society doesn’t exist in England and certainly doesn’t exist in London. Therefore we have to be in a position to respond to the threat of people with firearms."
Of course there are apologies for the De Menezes disaster, but CO19 bosses insist they rarely open fire despite being called out to 8,000 gun crimes and high-risk operations every year.
Many of them are gang-related and involve lethal weapons—with the force seizing a terrifying 400 guns in London EVERY MONTH including Kalashnikov machine guns and Mac 10 machine pistols.
The squad carries out three armed raids every day. But it is the new breed of teenage killers that has CO19 worried. In 2007 190 children under 17 were shot in London. A quarter of all shootings officers respond to are committed by under-18s.
Insp Matt Twist says: “There are children of 14, 15, 16 using guns to settle disputes that would have previously been fights in the playground.
“It’s scary, if at that age you’re prepared to use guns to shoot other people, God knows what’s going to happen in the next five years.” PC Warwick Jones adds: “It’s not going to be long before someone in the department shoots a 14 or 15-year-old boy and we’re going to get absolutely slated.”
But the cameras reveal the frightening reality as they trail CO19 at work in gangland Britain.
CLICK BELOW TO WATCH GUN COPS CLIP
In The Line of Fire - starts Tuesday at 9pm on ITV1
Following a shooting in Tottenham officers pull two teenagers from a car, one a boy of 15 wearing body armour and a single glove on his right hand, often used to prevent the skin being tainted with telltale gun residue. A search of the car reveals a loaded revolver wrapped in a kitchen towel.
CCTV footage captures a young thug pulling a gun on a crowd—but luckily it jams before he can shoot and he’s quickly cornered by CO19.
In other scenes, a trio of young black men— seven out of 10 London gun crime suspects are black—are held after an Uzi submachine gun was pulled out on a busy dancefloor at a club in Streatham, south London.
Two of them are found with a bloodied knife and clothing from a triple stabbing earlier that night. Both end up jailed for violent disorder. The third gets four years after admitting five firearms offences.
In another sequence officers smash through a car window and drag the driver out, thinking he is responsible for drawing a gun in a nightclub.
The man is innocent but refuses to surrender and gets kicked by the cops then tasered with a 50,000-volt stun gun. He is later charged with drink driving.
One clip shows the officers drag a black man from his car as he matches the description of a suspect and fails to open the car door when ordered to. He is thrown to the ground then shoved up against a wall.
The man, who turns out to be innocent, complains that he has been stamped on and is told: “Mate, we’re not ********** about are we? We’ve got guns out. Switch on, shut up and do as you are told!”
If children now shoot people, God knows what will happen in 5 years time
Cameras follow as cops storm the home of ex-con Dean Miles, who used what turns out to be an imitation pistol in an attack on a shopkeeper.
Officers take just seconds to rip off the door and drag a shirtless Miles away from his family.
He is later jailed for two years.
Many times it is the officers themselves who become targets.
Clips show an unmarked police car peppered with bullet holes by a known gang member.
One of the officers inside the car reveals a 9mm round hit his body armour and landed on his lap.
It takes officers three hours to find the gunman—a 20-year-old afro-haired Peckham thug. He is known for previous drug and gun offences and winds up with a life sentence.
In some cases officers push, kick or punch suspects until they submit to being handcuffed. PC Jones says: “To the outsider it looks oppressive and aggressive, but what’s the alternative? Do we get into a fight with these people and they start grabbing our guns? Then you’re in a world of cr*p that you don’t really need.
“They need to be controlled early—it looks agressive, but then how do you get an armed bloke out of a car? Are you going to knock on the window and say ‘Get out’? You’re not going to do it, are you?”
Force
Insp Twist adds: “The reason a lot of force can sometimes be used is that the information that the suspect has a gun is very good.
“What you want to do at that point is gain compliance. We don’t want to get into a negotiation, a slanging match or a conversation with the person. We want them to do what we say because that’s the safest way of resolving the incident.
“Because at the end of the day the last thing we want to do is shoot them.”
Officers are trained to use verbal and physical strategies to gain that compliance. They resort to kicking if needed because their hands are used to hold their guns.
Insp Twist adds: “The absolutely overwhelming majority of incidents we go to are dealt with completely safely, very quickly and very professionally. And on many occasions without even pulling a firearm.”
* In The Line Of Fire starts Tuesday, Feb 10, 9pm ITV1. For information about other ITV programmes visit http://www.itv.com
Click on link to see video.
IT’S the one police squad always in the firing line—Scotland Yard’s secret elite CO19 gun cops.
They go in hard, fast and are trained to kill if necessary. Their tough, no- nonsense style will shock many and when they get it wrong they’re under fire yet again—from critics and the courts.
But this 550-strong team of the Metropolitan Police’s finest are often all that stands between us, the innocent public, and the ruthless thugs, drug dealers and terrorists armed to the teeth with guns and explosives.
Evil
CO19’s officers are still living in the shadow of the bungled 2005 operation that ended with the shooting and death of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, mistaken for a terrorist on the London Underground.
And now for the first time they have allowed cameras to follow them as they tackle frontline crime on London’s streets. This unprecedented warts and all footage is an eye-opener—never before has a British police force agreed to show its hardline tactics so openly.
You can see a clip on the video player further down this page.
Senior officers insist their methods are vital in a city where they are confronted with an explosion of violence—two people shot every day—and gunmen as young as 15 tooled up and wandering the streets in bullet-proof vests.
CO19’s Sgt Matt Smith says: “Let’s be perfectly honest about it, we’re a necessary evil.
“If I could choose, then I would live in a society where police officers don’t need guns. Unfortunately, that society doesn’t exist in England and certainly doesn’t exist in London. Therefore we have to be in a position to respond to the threat of people with firearms."
Of course there are apologies for the De Menezes disaster, but CO19 bosses insist they rarely open fire despite being called out to 8,000 gun crimes and high-risk operations every year.
Many of them are gang-related and involve lethal weapons—with the force seizing a terrifying 400 guns in London EVERY MONTH including Kalashnikov machine guns and Mac 10 machine pistols.
The squad carries out three armed raids every day. But it is the new breed of teenage killers that has CO19 worried. In 2007 190 children under 17 were shot in London. A quarter of all shootings officers respond to are committed by under-18s.
Insp Matt Twist says: “There are children of 14, 15, 16 using guns to settle disputes that would have previously been fights in the playground.
“It’s scary, if at that age you’re prepared to use guns to shoot other people, God knows what’s going to happen in the next five years.” PC Warwick Jones adds: “It’s not going to be long before someone in the department shoots a 14 or 15-year-old boy and we’re going to get absolutely slated.”
But the cameras reveal the frightening reality as they trail CO19 at work in gangland Britain.
CLICK BELOW TO WATCH GUN COPS CLIP
In The Line of Fire - starts Tuesday at 9pm on ITV1
Following a shooting in Tottenham officers pull two teenagers from a car, one a boy of 15 wearing body armour and a single glove on his right hand, often used to prevent the skin being tainted with telltale gun residue. A search of the car reveals a loaded revolver wrapped in a kitchen towel.
CCTV footage captures a young thug pulling a gun on a crowd—but luckily it jams before he can shoot and he’s quickly cornered by CO19.
In other scenes, a trio of young black men— seven out of 10 London gun crime suspects are black—are held after an Uzi submachine gun was pulled out on a busy dancefloor at a club in Streatham, south London.
Two of them are found with a bloodied knife and clothing from a triple stabbing earlier that night. Both end up jailed for violent disorder. The third gets four years after admitting five firearms offences.
In another sequence officers smash through a car window and drag the driver out, thinking he is responsible for drawing a gun in a nightclub.
The man is innocent but refuses to surrender and gets kicked by the cops then tasered with a 50,000-volt stun gun. He is later charged with drink driving.
One clip shows the officers drag a black man from his car as he matches the description of a suspect and fails to open the car door when ordered to. He is thrown to the ground then shoved up against a wall.
The man, who turns out to be innocent, complains that he has been stamped on and is told: “Mate, we’re not ********** about are we? We’ve got guns out. Switch on, shut up and do as you are told!”
If children now shoot people, God knows what will happen in 5 years time
Cameras follow as cops storm the home of ex-con Dean Miles, who used what turns out to be an imitation pistol in an attack on a shopkeeper.
Officers take just seconds to rip off the door and drag a shirtless Miles away from his family.
He is later jailed for two years.
Many times it is the officers themselves who become targets.
Clips show an unmarked police car peppered with bullet holes by a known gang member.
One of the officers inside the car reveals a 9mm round hit his body armour and landed on his lap.
It takes officers three hours to find the gunman—a 20-year-old afro-haired Peckham thug. He is known for previous drug and gun offences and winds up with a life sentence.
In some cases officers push, kick or punch suspects until they submit to being handcuffed. PC Jones says: “To the outsider it looks oppressive and aggressive, but what’s the alternative? Do we get into a fight with these people and they start grabbing our guns? Then you’re in a world of cr*p that you don’t really need.
“They need to be controlled early—it looks agressive, but then how do you get an armed bloke out of a car? Are you going to knock on the window and say ‘Get out’? You’re not going to do it, are you?”
Force
Insp Twist adds: “The reason a lot of force can sometimes be used is that the information that the suspect has a gun is very good.
“What you want to do at that point is gain compliance. We don’t want to get into a negotiation, a slanging match or a conversation with the person. We want them to do what we say because that’s the safest way of resolving the incident.
“Because at the end of the day the last thing we want to do is shoot them.”
Officers are trained to use verbal and physical strategies to gain that compliance. They resort to kicking if needed because their hands are used to hold their guns.
Insp Twist adds: “The absolutely overwhelming majority of incidents we go to are dealt with completely safely, very quickly and very professionally. And on many occasions without even pulling a firearm.”
* In The Line Of Fire starts Tuesday, Feb 10, 9pm ITV1. For information about other ITV programmes visit http://www.itv.com