Weds 17 May - Arming the police

"Listening to Nicola Heywood Thomas on BBC Radio Wales yesterday, I was to hear a police officer stating that the undercurrent within the force provided a sense of abject fear for the very lives of many on the beat, due to the prevalence of knives and guns amongst the more serious of weaponry they are now facing on a daily basis.

"The comments from this officer included such as, the mentality of those who are carrying such weapons preclude any sort of respect for the police, or members of the public for that matter, any regard for the law, and that he was of the opinion that, along with many of his colleagues, the police should now be an armed force in order to be able to turn things around, giving the police the edge for once.

"It is open warfare out there on the streets, seemed to be his cry of anguish.

"All well and good, I go along with much of what was said. I also see from many letters in the press and commentary on various news and documentary style programmes on tv and radio that the Human Rights Act should be either revised or done away with in the interests of the public who are on the receiving end of much of this weapon led violent behaviour by a minute minority within our society.

"There was one thought running through my mind as this police officer was pleading for the weapons to be allowed into their hands, and it was this,... 'Right then Mr Plod, maybe you are now feeling what we the general public have been feeling for a long time, and it has been your colleagues and hierarchy that have been denying it, stating that you have things under control, so we should not be in fear, as it is only a very rare circumstance for anyone to be subjected to terror from these thugs.

"SO, if you want the dubious protection that arms provide, WHAT ABOUT US?

"Are we not also entitled to meet this current crop of urban terrorists similarly tooled up, so that whenever they come onto OUR patch we can deal with them on an equal footing?

"Or are the police telling me that they still control the whole sorry mess, while their rank and file are telling me that some sectors of our environment are totally out of any sort of control, and there are areas in this the United Kingdom that they no longer have any control over, effectively they are NO GO zones held in hock by criminal gangs and mobs of outlaws?

"I would like an answer to the allegations of that officer on the Radio Wales programme yesterday, from senior officials, right up to the Chief Constables, especially here in Wales.

"Maybe the Welsh Secretary, the Assembly and the Home Office can come up with some answers to the statements made by that officer, and not the usual sort of crap they dish out whenever they are under challenge.

"Do we get the right to carry arms along with the police, for our own immediate attention? For sure as eggs are eggs it will be much too late to do anything once an attack has been made on one of US, before a cop arrives to provide the protection we are needing, if one ever does so, keeping in mind he may be too scared for his own life coming into an area he is sure is no longer controllable."

Note - Morgan's views are not necessarily shared by the BBC