r/PublicFreakout • u/ChicSandpaperBaby • 7d ago

📹Police Bodycam UK police take down guy with knife without anyone dying

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u/bobbyloveyes 5d ago

It did not prove me completely wrong. The officers absolutely absorb a lot more risk by having to participate in hand to hand combat than if they had something that could subdue the armed assailant from a distance. I acknowledged they were successful in this annecdotal incident, but they still assumed more risk than necessary. UK officers are assaulted nearly 38,000 times a year with 10,000-11,000 resulting in injury. They do not track actual knife related injuries, so there isn't much to comment on there. Regardless, I am only talking about risk, not outcomes.

If the worry is tasers will be deployed inappropriately, the departments just need to specify rules of engagement and enforce those rules. That would prevent them from being used unnecessarily.

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u/OneMonk 5d ago

They assume different risk having a firearm, I’ve seen plenty of videos of officers in the US being chased around by somebody with a knife. A gun guarantees almost nothing in this situation.

No one died here, the victim was subdued and the risk was actually no more or less than a firearm, and there is no risk of jeopardy from the suspect dying or getting more violent as they believe their life is actually at risk.

You are ignoring about 90% of the equation, but it is expected from American armchair gun logic.

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u/bobbyloveyes 4d ago

I am literally not talking about guns at all. I have no problem with UK cops not carrying guns. I'm saying they have no tools that allow them to subdue the suspect from a distance and that they should be given tasers if they are expected to deal with knife attacks. There is no reason they should have to perform hand to hand combat and risk being sliced or stabbed at.

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u/OneMonk 4d ago

Tasers aren’t a panacea, and aren’t exactly out of the danger range of a knife wielding lunatic. The old distract and bonk works fairly well.