Dear O Sung Wu,

You'd know more about what kind of police officers
there are. I had assumed that those in Administration
would have had to work their way up through the ranks.
And that promotions don't come easily. But then what do
I know? I also would have thought that police force
administrators - would also have to listen to their
rank and file members and be inclusive and consultative.

Anyway, best practice, new ideas, innovations, help us
to learn and grow. Doing the same old, same old, day in
and day out is not very efficient.

educating the pitfalls of hating the whitie and tribal mentality would be a major improvement. Unfortunately the abc contributes to the problems. Recently an Indigenous guy had to run from his community after umpiring a football match. He could of easily have been beaten or worse. This is standard in outback communities.

Foxy,

There was indeed a time in this country when policemen did not carry guns, but that changed.

"In 1894 a number of unarmed police were seriously injured while attempting to arrest a group of offenders as they attempted to break open a safe in the Union Steamship Company Office in Bridge Street, Sydney. The incident received wide publicity and was known as "Bridge Street Affray".[20] Within 24 hours the premier announced that all police would wear firearms at all times while on duty to prevent the escape of felons and to place them on an equal footing with armed criminals. Previously only police in rural districts had been permitted to carry firearms. Parliament subsequently passed legislation authorising the arming of all members of the NSW Police Force and all Police have carried firearms ever since.[21]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_Police_Force#Arming

That's NSW where the police have been armed from early days, the first policeman killed on duty was overpowered and killed with his issue cutlass.

"You can never determine the mental condition of an
individual with a weapon" [or driving a car, or owning a chainsaw or having access to water pistols and vinegar and, topically, access to a box of matches].

Dear Foxy,

There are numerous countries like the UK, NZ, and Japan who do not routinely arm their police force. As a result the number of mentally ill citizens being gunned down is dramatically reduced as well as the number of police being killed in the line of duty.

The UK did for a short while introduce standard arming of officers but the surge in civilian deaths forced a rethink.

Police in these countries are well trained in de-escalation and rolling containment.

Unfortunately the gun lobby in this country has seen a large increase in the number of firearms within our communities. As well as driving an increase in gun deaths in domestic situations it has also provided a regular and growing source of weaponry for our criminal classes. In this environment I do think officer safety has been impacted and weaponised state police forces will be our future for a long while yet.

No need for guns now anyway, lighting bush fires does more damage !

Steele,

"Unfortunately the gun lobby in this country has seen a large increase in the number of firearms within our communities. As well as driving an increase in gun deaths in domestic situations it has also provided a regular and growing source of weaponry for our criminal classes. In this environment I do think officer safety has been impacted and weaponised state police forces will be our future for a long while yet"

Your prejudice is shewing.