Police in your country

[4 IN 1 0]

well talking about police special force, we do have a world class CT/law enforce unit in Hong Kong

[Postduifje 0]

Dutch police:

[Jinef 2]

UK/British Police - Current Status

Unlike the police in other countries, the British police are noted for not being routinely armed, except in Northern Ireland, at airports, nuclear facilities, and on protection duties.The SO19 Armed Response units are our equivalent of SWAT, the SAS is a military organisation and thus invalid however the SAS would more likely be used in terrorist situations due to them being trained in explosive entries etc while SO19 is purely firearms based if I am correctly informed.

There are several specialist units also -

The British Transport police are a national police service for the railway system.

Customs and Excise control all inlets to the UK searching for drugs and illegal items. They operate frequently in conjunction with coastguard to halt marine smuggling operations. They also search for illegal immigrants, however any case of large scale people smuggling is handed over to -

The Serious Organised Crime Agency is basically focused on large scale organised crime, illegal drug trade and smuggling of illegal immigrants.

Special Branch is basically a link into MI5 - the military intelligence service responsible for the British Isles. Not to be confused with MI6.

Interpol Branch UK - Links to Interpol

Interpol is the world's second largest international organization, after the United Nations; it currently has 181 member countries. It is financed by annual contributions from its member countries, which total about EUR €30 million (USD $28 million). The Organization is headquartered in Lyon, France. Because of the politically neutral role Interpol must play, its Constitution forbids any involvement in crimes that do not overlap several member countries, or any political, military, religious, or racial crimes. Its work centers primarily on public safety and terrorism, organized crime, illicit drug production and trafficking, weapons smuggling, trafficking in human beings, money laundering, financial and high-tech crime, and corruption.

http://www.interpol.int/

New Scotland Yard -

This is the headquaters for the Metropolitan police services, it is responsible for policing London, not Scotland. It is located 250 metres away from the houses of Parliament in Westminster, not Scotland. The original Scotland Yard was taken over by the British Army and became an Army recruiting office and Royal Military Police headquarters so they made a new one.

All policing is based on regional areas of responsibility. There are around 65 regions.

A picture:

http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~liuya/images/album/olda.jpg

The E-R on her hat stands for Elizabeth Regina, the current Queen of England. This is on all uniforms of British police officers, military personnel, and public services such as the National Health Service and Her Majesty's Coastguard.

Generally the police are friendly and helpful, however they do deal with a lot of problems very effectively. The police can be brutal in quelling problems also as seen in the miner's riots.

A look at history.

In 1984, the National Coal Board announced that an agreement reached after the 1974 miners' strike had become obsolete, and that they intended to close 20 pits. 20,000 jobs would be lost, and many communities in the North of England and Wales would lose their primary source of employment. Depending upon the impact of the proposed closures in their own areas, miners in various coal fields began strike action. Crucially, although there was widespread support for the strike amongst mine workers, the National Union of Mineworkers did not call a ballot for national strike action. This tactical error allowed the Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher to bring the full weight of the law down on the striking miners and the union. The NUM's funds were seized on October 24, 1984 by order of the High Court. Miners were denied state benefits and their wages, and the police were mobilised to deal with picket lines on the grounds that they represented illegal public disturbances.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) organised a mass picket of Orgreave for June 18, 1984, with the intention of blockading the plant, and ideally forcing its temporary closure. Aware of the plans by means of MI5 infiltration, the police organised counter-measures. The NUM was represented by 5-6000 pickets from across the UK. The police numbered 4-8000, with 50 mounted police and 60 police dogs. Initially the strike played out like most others, and the strikers played football for a while. But as more numbers arrived on both sides, tensions began to rise. There was some stone-throwing from the miners' side, in reaction the police deployed a cordon of long-shielded police.

At 8am the lorries arrived to fetch the coke. This was the cue for the "push", in which the miners jostled the police in an attempt to break the lines, the mounted police intimidated the miners back and short shield squads (5 man teams in riot gear and with batons and shields) dragged away prominent characters. This continued until more lorries passed through and the miners launched a very large push, the retaliation was more substantial than before, and left the now outnumbered pickets with no option but to cross a bridge. Some miners tried to fight back but were arrested, and fighting escalated to the point where miners were being overtaken by the police front line, beaten with batons and then arrested. The police soon reached the bridge, taking and holding one side. Here they were bombarded by missiles, with the miners utilising a nearby scrap-yard. A car was dragged from the yard, put across the road and set alight. The police decided to charge, 40 mounted police charged (imagine 40 2 ton, 2 1/2 metre high armour plated animals with baton wielding policemen on top charging at you at 25 mph). After this charge so many miners were injured that the striker's morale was crushed, medical teams were being restricted access by the police to the victims until they dispersed. The strike collapsed and the miners dispersed.

The country is only now recovering from the economic crisis Margaret Thatcher caused in these riots, it just shows that no matter how professional an organisation is it can still be misused. The evils of a conservative government, don't vote conservative!

Hope this is helpful,

Jinef.

[DracoPaladore 0]

In most parts of Canada you will find 3 different levels of Police:

Regional/Local

Firstly, there are the Regional or City police departments. Cities and municpalities that have a large enough population will have thier own police services. These police will usually handle most of the crimes that are commited within city or municipal borders and the investigations that come with them.

The local police where I live now is the City of North Bay Police Department. When I'm not in North Bay, I live in St. Catharines, Ontario, which falls under the protection of the Niagara Regional Police.

Provincial,

Secondly, there are Provincial Police. These only exist in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec because they are the only two provinces with a population and territory large enough to justify a provincial police force. In Quebec they are known as the Sűreté du Québec (QPP) (en Francais). In Ontario they are known as the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

In cities or municipalities that have their own police forces, the OPP or QPP act as the highway patrol. In areas where there are no local cops, the OPP or QPP will fill out the roles of both a local police and a highway patrol.

(The OPP are the guys who busted me for doing 157k/ph in a posted 80 k/ph zone.    )

At the provincial level, there are also Conservation Officers. These police have the responsibility to catch poachers and people who break hunting and fishing regulations. They are usually armed with side arms, depending on the province but I'm pretty sure all of them have rifles and shotguns with them.

Federal

Thirdly, there is the federal police, known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), more commonly called "Mounties" in Canada.

The RCMP has a huge number of roles within Canada. Outside of Ontario and Quebec, the RCMP will perform the roles of what the provincial and municipal police would perform in other areas of Canada that have them. So they do everything from handing out traffic tickets to investigating murders in small towns across Canada that have no local or provincial police. This is known as "contract policing".

Across Canada the RCMP does anything that would concern the federal government. This means anything from counter-terrorism initiatives to drug smuggling and corporate crime. They also perform protective duties for Federal Government ministers and foreign dignitaries. They even go over-seas on peacekeeping missions. I know RCMP officers were sent to the former Yugoslavia and Kosovo to investigate the mass graves.

That's it for now, I'll edit this to add more in a sec.

OK:

RCMP 1998 Crown Victoria:

<img src="http://policecanada.ca/RCMP/GRCON190_GerardDonnelly.jpg/img]

RCMP 2001 Ford Police Interceptor

http://policecanada.ca/RCMP/GRCPE216_PierreBrabant.jpg/img]

RCMP 2000 Chevrolet Impala

http://policecanada.ca/RCMP/GRCON282_GerardDonnelly.jpg" border="0">

These are the three models of police cruisers that you will encounter 95% of the time in Canada. Regional, Provincial, and Federal cops all use them.

When people from other countries think of the RCMP, they usually think of a "Mountie" wearing a scarlet tunic, riding boots, and a brown stetson. This uniform if for dress purposes only. When on duty, they wear normal police uniforms.

This was the best pic I could find that shows all of them:

http://www.hiway16.com/magazine2/pages/Debi/rcmp/present.jpg/img]

As for weapons, it depends on which department you're talking about. Most local cops I encounter carry a Glock 22 in .40 S&W as their standard carry piece. I've also seen OPP and RCMP officers with Smith & Wesson 9mm pistols (DAO). Most, if not all police in Canada are also trained on shot guns and semi-auto carbines. The models of shot guns and rifles vary from department to department but I've seen everything from AR-15's to Mini-14's and Remington 870's.

ERT teams (local/provincial) have your usual assortment of MP 5's, M4 carbines, 12 guage shotguns, Glock pistols, etc.

As for the "friendly-ness" of Canadian police:

It all depends on which officer you encounter and what kind of a mood they are in. Accusations of police abuse aren't that common in Canada, so they aren't violent, but they can be dicks. I've found most officers to be friendly and calm, so long as you're not the one they're arresting.  

Tyler

I think your forgetting something. Do we not have an ERT or Emergency Response Team as well? I think they're pretty much like a sort of SWAT, but called for emergencies.

And my family actually owns an Impala. My father is trying to push my mother(who works with the OPP as a secretary and records) into convincing the maintenance down at the station to rig his car with that speicilised chip that makes them go way faster.

[SpongeBob 0]

Well, in my town, the police don't do anything but bust people for smoking pot, they usually rough them up a bit, throw them in the back of the police car, or the very least, ticket them.  And for this I thank them and hold them with the utmost respect  

I once saw these two cops walk up to a group of pot smokers in a public park, the cops started to playing mind games with them, telling them to get up, then as the guy was getting up, knock the guy down and make it look as if the guy was trying to get up and run away from them.  Probably borderline police brutality, but sure was entertaining  

And this was just "innocent" pot smokers, what they do to heroin junkies, prostitutes, and homeless vagrants is much more harsh.

But enough of these fine men in blue, check out these pics:

Not sure what country its from, POLICJA, eastern europe? Ok, I can understand the tiny car, town doesn't have much money and what not, so go for the a clown car, but WTF with the tractor?  

[SpongeBob 0]

And my family actually owns an Impala. My father is trying to push my mother(who works with the OPP as a secretary and records) into convincing the maintenance down at the station to rig his car with that speicilised chip that makes them go way faster.

Is that the Engine Governor?

My best friend, his first car was a police car that was "past its prime" and was decommissioned by the force, and he went to a police auction and got it for 600.  It was an old beat up crown vic, but did we have some fun with that before we killed it.  Thing is, they don't come with any car radios or even cigarette lighters, floor mats or anything, and the cops had some really bad B.O., good thing it was the summer and we had all the windows "knocked out" (the rear ones will not roll down, so we had to knock them out).  I am actually thinking of getting one to use as a beer-mobile out at my cabin in the summer, keep no more than $5 of gas in her, no insurance, not registered, no plates, just to make beer runs (about 10 miles tips).

[plons 0]

for the dutch police : I love the sight of that beetle

Belgium police is mainly divided in two parts

1) local police : wich ass the word already states works in the villages or city's

mainly for the smaller crimes

every city/village has it's own departement (normal)

they can be recognized with a blue stripe on there vehicle

the older police officers intend to be very nice but strict, but the younger they get the more I intend to be affraid of them.

I also noticed they stick the idiots in the smallest villages but that's maybe a little bit subjectif.

You also have the federal police

notice the orange stripe on the volvo

http://www.fedpol.be/fedpol/orga/images/vol_jo.jpg

they do more goverment related projects and thing the local police cant manage, like big strikes and uprises

besides these two you still have a swat related taskforce and the researche departement like all the other countries.

I don't know wich guns they use, my father says same standard pistol as the belgian army, and the local taskforces have shotguns aswel.....

is there anyone who wiches to join the police ?

[plons 0]

damn all my pcs :-(

anyway here is the link

http://www.politie.be/

[Harnu 0]

Don't forget foods and the drink of choice:

[Assault (CAN) 1]

Quote[/b] ]The evils of a conservative government, don't vote conservative!

You just had to work that in there....

Quote[/b] ]I think your forgetting something. Do we not have an ERT or Emergency Response Team as well?

Read my post again.

Tyler

[Assault (CAN) 1]

For the Police in Canada, the coffee of choice is:

Proof:

[DracoPaladore 0]

Quote[/b] ]The evils of a conservative government, don't vote conservative!

You just had to work that in there....

Quote[/b] ]I think your forgetting something. Do we not have an ERT or Emergency Response Team as well?

Read my post again.

Tyler

Doh

[MEDICUS 0]

I voted for "The police in my country is relatively fair and calm". I'm from germany and the police is really "fair and calm" compaired with other contrys. Especially calm. It's really hard for me to remember any Szene in the news about a shooting between the police and some "criminals". Their motto is "Your friend and helper" and i think it's fair to say that they relly try hard to be this way. Ok, ok, sometimes they relly su** .... especially if you are young

So far they have a pretty good reputation. They finished one big hostage taking of a plane in a pretty unbloody way (all hostages alive, only terorist were killed)

You are talking about the "Landshut", right? That was a awsome job (and afaik their first real one).

Some info:

On October 13, 1977, Lufthansa flight LH 181 from Palma de Mallorca to Frankfurt was hijacked. A group of four Arabs took control of the plane (named Landshut). The leader introduced himself to the passengers as "Captain Martyr Mahmud". When the plane landed in Rome for refuelling, he issued the same demands as the Schleyer kidnappers, plus the release of two Palestinians held in Turkey and payment of $15 million. The plane flew on to the airport of Dubai, and then to Oman, where pilot Jürgen Schumann was shot on October 16. The aircraft again took off, this time headed for Mogadishu, Somalia. A high-risk rescue operation was led by Schmidt's former minister and now special officer Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski, who had secretly been flown in from Bonn. At five past midnight CET on October 18, the plane was stormed in a seven-minute assault by the GSG-9, a German elite police squad. All four terrorists were shot; three of them died on the spot. Not one passenger was hurt.

Mfg MEDICUS

[Tex -USMC- 0]

At my last workplace, we had an IHOP next door. Whenever I got off at around 10:00 PM on any given weeknight, the IHOP parking lot would literally be full of police cruisers. I'm talking about 20-25 squad cars in a town that has a force of maybe 60 cars total. Needless to say, the only cops I ever saw at that time of night outside of the IHOP parking lot were the ones that passed me... on their way to IHOP. If you ever want to commit a crime in Midland, I reccomend the time period when half of the town's cops are in the middle of their Belgian Waffles.

[shinRaiden 0]

Yeah, if you want to find the best food, look for the squad cars. I found a good teriyaki place because of there being somany police cars and fire trucks parked there that I couldn't get in. They know where all the good hole-in-the-wall joints are.

[Beagle 684]

If I am correct the weapon used by our police is the Beretta Parabellum 92F 9mm. Shotguns are not in use. Instead short automatic rifles such as HKs are used.

Incorrect, Mr. Schweitzer...

I'm Member of a local shooting club, and we have lot's of policemen in our club, so I've seen often, what they are shooting with.

German police mainly uses "SigSauer" P226 or "Heckler&Koch" P7 and Heckler&Koch MP-5.

[The Frenchman 0]

We..have these guys as our police force.

But seriously...

Our 1337 police cars

IMO, the policemen where I live are alright, but the ones that they have "GUARDING" our school are jerks. We once had a policeman that came to our elementary school along time ago that bragged about how he used pepper spray on a dog that was attacking him and about the K9 unit he has.....

[Assault (CAN) 1]

North Tonawanda, heh, that's not far from where I am.

I always meet stupid American tourists (no, I'm not saying that all Yanks are stupid...) in Niagara Falls, Ontario who go to Clifton Hill to get drunk.

Good times.

[theavonlady 2]

I always meet stupid American tourists (no, I'm not saying that all Yanks are stupid...)

But you're saying that all stupid American tourists are stupid!

Oh.

[Assault (CAN) 1]

I always meet stupid American tourists (no, I'm not saying that all Yanks are stupid...)

But you're saying that all stupid American tourists are stupid!      

Oh.

What?

[theavonlady 2]

I always meet stupid American tourists (no, I'm not saying that all Yanks are stupid...)

But you're saying that all stupid American tourists are stupid!      

Oh.

What?

Stupid Canadian forum member!

j/k

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

That is why american tourists in Canada feel so at home!

[4 IN 1 0]

That is why american tourists in Canada feel so at home!

why? cause they are dumb?

[Necromancer- 0]

OMG

You German bastards get to drive the brand new Mercedes E-klasse.

We Dutch policemen get to drive the silly Volkswagen Golf.

http://members.lycos.nl/gstarsnl/politie.jpg

[Necromancer- 0]

UK Police...

Shiny new G-36s

http://www.hkpro.com/action10londong36clg.jpg

That is probably why they are smiling