anarchy ??

Anarchy

Why wait till Wednesday to draft in 16000 officers when you can can sort out something today by calling in the army or have the Tories cuts gone to deep that they cant even call in the Army, even if the Tories decided to do so they will be anarchists. It seems very odd that when they are in power there are far more riots......More cities on the rampage copy cat or not there is a crisis, that needs urgent attention.

It takes time to draft in huge numbers of officers from other forces - you can't leave other areas dangerously short, especially as rioting is spreading into many other areas.

Deploying the army would be a very big step, as they've never been deployed to quell unrest in mainland Britain, and would be seen by many as a sign of weakness. I think the police overtime will be given a couple of days to see what they can do.

Many have called for water cannon to be used, this is another tough one, as they've never been used in Great Britain, and there are none available. They have 6 in Northern Ireland, and they've been used a few times in the past, but I would imagine the NI police will be reluctant to let them go during the marching season. Water Cannon are not something you can buy on Ebay with next day delivery, so don't expect to see them being used anytime soon.

Other people have called for baton rounds to be used, rubber bullets, the Met have these, but the government is reluctant to authorise their use, again because it's a sign that the police have lost control, which they have, so there's no real reason not to use them.

My opinion, get the army in, read the Riot Act, and start shooting looters...

there's nothing shameful in calling the army when the PM had the time to do so.

Canons, army, all ruled out.

By the look of it they will jsut have to wait til they get bored, but we shall see what the Police do tonight.

Incidentally, i thought name calling, even of the "hidden" variety, was frowned on here.

"The friend that paints a nice picture of how it feels to be a Police officer is actually one of my brothers. I dragged him into it - as you put it - because - unlike you - he knows what he's talking about."

And then told me who he really is to be emotive. If he knows what he's talking about, I'm sure he always calls a spade a spade whe it coems to bad behaviour by the Police. I'm sure he doesn't make excuses about being cold and in the dark...

"Police officers don't sign up in "full knowledge of what they were agreeing to" when it comes to being attacked on the streets by mobs of brain-dead thugs with petrol bombs and half bricks."

They do unless they have been living under a rock before joining up.

"Officers do face it, however, and I would have thought that the least we could do is afford them at least a tiny bit of respect for the work they do on our behalf, rather than being subjected to juvenile comments such as "Aw, bless them" when someone points out that they do a difficult, and largely thankless job."

What I actualy did was point out, albeit sarcastically, that they shouldnt be complaining about the fact that, when they murder, abuse, misstreat etc, investigations will happen. Nice try though.

In the years from 2000 to 2007 criminals killed thirteen police officers in the execution of their duty. In the same period the Police shot and killed 17 people. I imagine that the families of all those officers feel that their loved ones were killed "with apparently no good reason", but I doubt I shall see you paying them the least bit of respect - you'll be too busy sneering at me for daring to show a bit of support for the job the police do for us.

No, I "sneer" when you support wrongdoing with excuses which may not be the case here, but has been in the past. It's a tough job, but that excuses nothing, whether its your brother or Uncle Tom Whatsit.

They deserve the utmost repsect. Many Police do a good job in good faith, I am sure, and for that we should all be grateful. And there can be no excuses for the behaviour of the last 3 nights.

• I must admit I am guilty of being unaware of the extent of th eproblem when I posted yesterday, and for muddying the waters a little because of that. I maintain that with Jody Macintyre and with Ian Tomlinson they behaved despicably and I'll hear no excuses, even if the person making them does "know what he's talking about". This situation seems like it may turn out to be rather different, however, so I apologise that my initial reaction may have been rather strong.

We also must not forget, though, that this i sno longer just a protest aghainst Police behaviour, and some of the perpetrators even admit that. I'm sure their reasoning will be examined in depth for some time to come.