England is reeling from the deaths of two female police officers in Manchester earlier this week. According to English police, the unarmed officers were “lured to their deaths” by a wanted fugitive who fatally shot both of them.
The officers, Fiona Bone, 32, and Nicola Hughes, 23, responded to a burglary call where 29-year-old Dale Cregan ambushed the two.
“When they arrived, it appears then that Cregan emerged into the road and killed these two officers,” Chief Constable Peter Fahy said. Cregan’s motive was “impossible to fathom.”
The Associated Press stated that Cregan was already the “focus of an intense police manhunt as a suspect in two murders last month” and that he turned himself into a local police station after the incident.
In comparison to the United States, guns are much more tightly controlled in England and fatal gun attacks are extremely rare in Britain. Steve Lloyd, who manages the Police Roll of Honor and Trust, said that only five officers have been shot dead within the past 10 years. In the US, however, 544 law enforcement agents have been shot to death in the line of duty.
Despite the deaths of both these officers, Fahy doesn’t think that giving police more firepower is the answer.
“We are passionate that the British style of policing is routinely unarmed policing,” Fahy said. “We know from the experience in America and other countries that having armed officers certainly does not mean, sadly, that police officers do not end up getting shot dead.”
What do you think about the situation, are more guns the answer or is there a better solution? Sound off in the comments!
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