The post isn't about politics and guns precisely, but since police powers and methods are a common topic here, I hope this is tangentially related enough to make the grade, and I think many here will be interested. (And it eventually touches on guns.)
Background:
There is a blog called The Policeman's Blog, written by a (former) UK policeman who goes by the pen name "PC Copperfield." "PC" in the case being the British acronym for Police Constable rather than Politically Correct. He was more than a little fed up with policing in the UK, and started the anonymous blog to vent and illustrate some of the absurdities of policing in particular, and society more generally, in the UK. As the blog became more famous in the UK, it caused a bit of stir, with some unhappy police brass and politicians trying to figure out who he was. He eventually wrote a book called "Wasting Police Time," and ulimately revealed his identity and appeared on some media programs. It was about this time that he also emigrated from the UK to Canada, to join the Edmonton Police Department.
He continued blogging about his experiences in making the transition, and invited other Brit cops to (anonymously) share their frustrations with policing in the UK, so the blog is still going strong and interesting to read. As of last December (2008) he had been in Canada for one year, and he wrote a post reflecting on the differences between the police business in the UK and Canada. This is what I would like to bring to your attention.
Now, I believe most of us here feel Canada has some screwed up laws with the gun registry, firearms restrictions, and (at least for me) the "human rights tribunals" that are busily trying to stamp out non-leftist thought (altho there is some successful pushback against that). However, it is in much better shape than the UK, and more like the US than it is the UK -- so far. Hope the present government continues its progress.
The point:
Anyway, PC Copperfield has a post where he writes on what he thinks is the essential difference between policing in the UK and in Canada, and why he thinks police are much more effective in Canada. In his words, "So what’s different? Guns? Not really the major issue you might think it is..." Interestingly, a key difference is that Canadian police officers have fewer police powers than in Canada -- but they have something better in place of them, and this makes Canadian police officers more effective.
Go read his post (at the following link) to see why this true, and I highly recommend you go back to the beginning of his blog and skim through, see what policing and crime are like in the UK through the eyes of a frontline policeman...
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