The Shock of Ferguson: I Grew Up in a Country Where Most Cops Don’t Even Have a Gun

I’ve lived in America for nine years now, and one of the most important survival skills I’ve learned is to always check my rearview mirror for cop cars. I have learned to fear the cops.

You see, I grew up in a country where the majority of police officers don’t have andproudly insist they don’t want guns. The few British police who may be armed (AFOs) are not allowed to carry a firearm unless authorized by a senior officer. In the UKfrom 2012 to 2014, there have been no deaths due to police shootings. In 2011 and 2012, AFOs only opened fire a total of five times.

“In the UK from 2012 to 2014, there have been no deaths due to police shootings.”

 

While racist policing undoubtedly exists in the UK, it hasn’t torn the heart of the nation in two to the same extent it has segregated America. Growing up in the UK, I thought of the cops as losers who couldn’t get a decent job and instead wore stupid dayglo yellow jackets and silly hats and spent the majority of their time dealing withannoying drunk people.

“In terms of the police being approachable, in terms of the public being the eyes and ears of the police, officers don’t want to lose that,” former Met deputy assistant commissioner Brian Paddick told the BBC in 2012. “Every case in which a police officer has shot someone brings home to unarmed officers the sheer weight of responsibility that their colleagues face.”

 

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