India, Police, & Guns
Posted by thetbones on November 30, 2008
I was completely in shock at the events that recently occurred in India. Like many people, I thought, “How could this go on for so long?” I think the following excerpt from a Wall Street Journal article sums it up.
“The two gunmen moved along two separate paths toward the station’s main entrance, firing as they walked. They met virtually no resistance, even though several dozen police officers are usually deployed at the station. ‘They were killing the public, and the police just ran away,’ says Ram Vir, a coffee vendor whose stand is near Platform 8.
“B.S. Sidhu, head of the Railway Protection Force for the Mumbai region, says that while some officers tried to fight back, there was little his force could do. Most police officers at the station — as they are throughout India — were unarmed or carried only bamboo sticks known as lathis.”
In 2008, the police in India are still armed with sticks?!?! WOW!
Source: WSJ
Ollie said
Yes. Police in India are unarmed. Reason being Indias gun laws are not exactly loose and studies have shown that in countries with harsh laws but who allow police to carry guns ((such as Germany and Greece–although the latter is planning to change)) the public loose respect for the police.
However there are many areas in India where police have started to carry on patrol a glock17 or other 9mm.
Also soldiers have started patrolling in areas where the police are to be armed ((indian police are not trained with guns in the initial academy and therefore the soldiers take over while the police in those areas train with firearms.))
I’m surprised to learn that the station did not have guns. In Nicaragua ((where primarily police are unarmed)) there are always 2 handguns in the station locked in a box which if it is attacked then a trained police officer ((they always have one on standby but unless he needs to get the gun to defend the station he is unarmed.))
The trained officer then accesses the gun//s and defends the station.
But i understand how crazy it seems.
But Japan they have guns and they run away from people with sticks so imagine how a jcop would react to gunfire ((If the indian police had guns then the people would have been shot in no time.))