Re: How is the crime rate in the Switzerland compare to England?
The point is that gun use and gun crime in the UK generally is still very low, and the fear has always been that once your average cop wears a gun, a perception starts to take hold that guns are the norm. At the moment there is still the belief that guns are a no-no because so few people have actually ever even seen a gun in the UK. There has to be a zero tolerance.
Yes, there are some urban areas where a gang and gun culture seems to be taking hold, seemingly 'inspired' by the notorious gangs in the USA. But most Brits would hate to see the average police officer across the country being armed. It would just legitimise guns.
Re: How is the crime rate in the Switzerland compare to England?
In all seriousness though gun violence in the US and the ability of police officers to use and carry weapons always freaked me out.
I used to live in a more "urban" area in my town and a guy was shot in a robbery gone wrong down the street from me. I had to walk home every evening after my classes and it freaked me out to no end walking home in the dark and passing the flowers people laid where the guy died.
Gun violence is different from state to state, but I am in more favor of tighter regulation rather than less. Until there is tighter regulation on gun control, police still need to be armed.
Last edited by Cbass; 22.07.2011 at 22:06.
This user would like to thank Cbass for this useful post:
Im all for gun control and to make it extremely stict. I have been smacked on the head with a gun in the US . To bad for the kid that made me realize there was no bullets in it....
Re: How is the crime rate in the Switzerland compare to England?
"but with the places which don't arm the police the gun crime is relatively low"
While this might be true for gun crime, it certainly wasn't true at all for all other major crime in my country. Until recently policemen had little power in firing their guns and could also be sued by the criminals if they did. This lead to hilarious cases where policemen were beat up by criminals in the street which then walked away. More recently they've gotten more power and behold, in the past years I've never heard of such things again.
As to the crime rate in CH, i've not been here long, but comparatively to other places i've lived and/or travelled, it seems very low, especially in the countryside (i.e. not the big cities). This might be a consequence of the fact that people *go away* after 6 in the evening.
The point is that gun use and gun crime in the UK generally is still very low, and the fear has always been that once your average cop wears a gun, a perception starts to take hold that guns are the norm. At the moment there is still the belief that guns are a no-no because so few people have actually ever even seen a gun in the UK. There has to be a zero tolerance.
Yes, there are some urban areas where a gang and gun culture seems to be taking hold, seemingly 'inspired' by the notorious gangs in the USA. But most Brits would hate to see the average police officer across the country being armed. It would just legitimise guns.
where in UK are you talking about just to know. cause the times I visited London, I have never felt so unsafe....partially my own faulth as I kept getting lost at night.
where in UK are you talking about just to know. cause the times I visited London, I have never felt so unsafe....partially my own faulth as I kept getting lost at night.
Ah, that's where you are going wrong. The UK is a bit bigger than London - there are plenty of other places where you can go out at night and feel safe (and not get lost either).
Oh, and the beer is better the further north you go...
The following 3 users would like to thank for this useful post:
Re: How is the crime rate in the Switzerland compare to England?
Here in Lausanne, if anyone were to dare to drop litter, I would ask them to pick it up (right old busybody I am!) BUT I would no longer dare do that in the centre of London. I'd much rather quietly pick up the litter myself and put it in the bin.
People get knifed for less, and I'm talking about the 'posh' parts of London too.
The following 5 users would like to thank ceppych for this useful post:
Here in Lausanne, if anyone were to dare to drop litter, I would ask them to pick it up (right old busybody I am!) BUT I would no longer dare do that in the centre of London. I'd much rather quietly pick up the litter myself and put it in the bin.
People get knifed for less, and I'm talking about the 'posh' parts of London too.
Considering that London has a population greater than Switzerland. Your chances of coming accross a nutter is obviously greater!
Re: How is the crime rate in the Switzerland compare to England?
Just so you people don't keep sounding like noobs, a .50 caliber round has a diameter of .510 inches, not 50mm. 50mm is almost 2 inches. THink about it. An automatic anti-aircraft gun mounted on your pickup? I don't think so.
And I'd like to know which states allow you to mount such a weapon on your vehicle and drive around with it.
The following 6 users would like to thank phdoofus for this useful post:
In certain states in the US it is legal to have a 50mm + machine gun mounted on your vehicle - um why on earth would you want to do that?
Couple of quick questions - how many US police officers have been shot by their own weapon, how many innocent bystanders have been shot by US police officers? I don't know BUT the fact that the police are armed means the bad guys get a bigger gun! Simples
Arming the police is really really really stupid, it means that the criminal classes just get bigger guns - and that my op, is actually why the issue the UK has is with drunk teenagers and not drive bys, shootings and generally no go areas.
good point but I dont think many police officers are gonna get scary with a gun or knife pointed at them and noting in return. I do agree US cops overuse severely their right to shoot.
Britain is not just London! London is a hole. There are 3 other countries included in the UK, that's COUNTRIES not just a dirty over filled city. The UK has beautiful parts that are very safe and not so far from London. And the further north you go the friendlier the people are too! Just thought I'd stick a tuppence in.
Re: How is the crime rate in the Switzerland compare to England?
Not all crime is the same so you would have to divide it into categories- white collar- violent crime, terrorism, blackmail, extortion etc.
The British press like to play it up- sensationalism pays. In Switzerland they play it down, near one of the schools n Switzerland there was a shoot out at the station. Kids helped police by picking up shells and syringes- there was nothing in the press, not even local press. I was told that they don't want to publicize because they don't want copycat crimes.
In London as in the US or perhaps any city it is difficult not to see crime; especially as areas become gentrified. Your area is like a little enclave- a sanctuary, but you may still have to walk through some less desirable areas.
Funnily enough I felt more at ease in Brixton than Clapham Common or Wandsworth. Police may also be corrupted; their links with the underworld can get nasty, while to the ordinary law-abiding citizen like me they are heroes!
This user would like to thank for this useful post:
Just so you people don't keep sounding like noobs, a .50 caliber round has a diameter of .510 inches, not 50mm. 50mm is almost 2 inches. THink about it. An automatic anti-aircraft gun mounted on your pickup? I don't think so.
And I'd like to know which states allow you to mount such a weapon on your vehicle and drive around with it.
The British press like to play it up- sensationalism pays. In Switzerland they play it down, near one of the schools n Switzerland there was a shoot out at the station. Kids helped police by picking up shells and syringes- there was nothing in the press, not even local press. I was told that they don't want to publicize because they don't want copycat crimes.
But the police informed you directly?
Do you really think this is something that wouldn't get out? Little Johnny comes home from school. "Guess what we did today, mummy, the police made us clean up after a shoot out but there will be no homework assignment on it because they want to keep it all hush-hush - yay!"
As a parent I would make as much noise about that as possible to whoever would listen and I don't think it would keep quiet for very long at all.
Come on.
The following 2 users would like to thank for this useful post:
Re: How is the crime rate in the Switzerland compare to England?
Quote:
But the police informed you directly?
Do you really think this is something that wouldn't get out? Little Johnny comes home from school. "Guess what we did today, mummy, the police made us clean up after a shoot out but there will be no homework assignment on it because they want to keep it all hush-hush - yay!"
As a parent I would make as much noise about that as possible to whoever would listen and I don't think it would keep quiet for very long at all.
Come on.
I'm not sure. It takes a lot of effort here to get something into the (national) news - if it doesn't involve the display of certain parts of the female body, that is.
Witness a recent loan-scandal that really only hit the press (and TV) because the bank responsible for almost ruining a couple of house-owners screwed it up completely on the media-front, too.
It was known for quite some time in certain circles but took a lot of effort of the affected parties to get it into mainstream press.
I'm not sure. It takes a lot of effort here to get something into the (national) news - if it doesn't involve the display of certain parts of the female body, that is.
Witness a recent loan-scandal that really only hit the press (and TV) because the bank responsible for almost ruining a couple of house-owners screwed it up completely on the media-front, too.
It was known for quite some time in certain circles but took a lot of effort of the affected parties to get it into mainstream press.
I agree that a lot of stuff doesn't make it to the mainstream press. But I would say the more realistic reasons are that it's simply not newsworthy or something bigger dominates the column inches. Haven't the newspapers just been going through the mill at the moment with all manner of scandal - seems a case of too MUCH information rather than cutting it back.
For the loan scandal I would say it wasn't particularly newsworthy until it involved the more public body of the media.
I used to work for a regional newspaper and stories were constantly being dropped, added or moved up or down the page count before deadline. Some people might call that a cover up, others might just say it doesn't sell papers.
In Hoppy's post, I am sure any case of the police using school children to clear up bullet shells and spent syringes after a shoot out would be extremely difficult to keep out of the public domain, especially in Switzerland. I can't believe that not one child, teacher or parent (or slightly shocked policeman for that matter) would let that one stay under wraps.
It simply doesn't add up but, then again hearsay rarely does, does it?
Last edited by Sandgrounder; 24.07.2011 at 15:12.
The following 3 users would like to thank for this useful post:
Uhhh my kid is a cop in Toronto ,He shots and kills about 65 unarmed people every day with his "Clock" 
Linear Mode
