DO OUR POLICE NEED TO CARRY GUNS?
Thursday’s shooting of Mr Rodney Elkass in Castle Hill confirms the need for an urgent review of firearms use by police said Andrew Greig, who is coordinator of the Non-Lethal Weapons for Peace Campaign.
“This incident follows several other recent shootings by police officers” said Mr Greig. “Rodney Elkas is reported as having a gun, but Justin McMaster, shot in the stomach on 26 September, appears to have been carrying a curtain rod to deter intruders. Adam Salter, shot dead by police in November 2009, was apparently trying to cut himself with a kitchen knife”.
Andrew Greig questions whether deadly force was warranted in any of these cases. He believes that a number of people shot by police in recent years did not pose a major safety threat. Many could have been restrained by other means, such as stun-guns.
In addition to the risk of death or injury to passers-by, guns used by police are a significant occupational health risk to the police themselves. They encourage criminals to use firearms and there is the danger of police bullets striking other officers. Handguns project a culture of violence
As Andrew Greig says, “there are other effective models of police protection in countries such as the United Kingdom, where only some 10% of the police are armed”.
“NSW Police now have the protection of Taser stun-guns. We need to ask whether every police officer on general duties needs to carry a firearm.”
“These recent police shootings highlight the need to debate why and how firearms are carried and used by police.”
Andrew Greig is the author of TAMING WAR – CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR PEACE and is a spokesperson for the Non-Lethal Weapons for Peace Campaign. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Sydney Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies.
Media Enquiries: 0412 299 762
(Please ignore ‘Leave a Reply’ – the section below – comments posted here will be deleted as spam. For genuine comments email info@tamingwar.com . Thank you.)