The murder of these two young women has shocked and angered the whole country. Tributes have flooded in for the officers and a picture emerges of two committed, hard-working professionals who lived to serve their community and only wanted to make a difference. Liberty has always been and must remain a critical friend to the police, but we have also always respected the ordinary men and women who do this difficult, essential and dangerous job. The death of two such women touches us all and should remind us of the risks taken and sacrifices made in a police service taken from and seeking to work for the whole community.
In the wake of this tragic event, there have been calls from some quarters for the police to be routinely armed - but many in the profession have promptly spoken out against such a dangerous kneejerk. Sir Hugh Orde, president of ACPO, used his experience in Northern Ireland to argue against the suggestions, saying ‘the clear view of the British police service from top to bottom is we don’t want to be armed’. And the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Sir Peter Fahy, told reporters ‘ We are passionate that the British style of policing is routinely unarmed policing and sadly we know from the experience in America and other countries that having armed officers certainly does not mean that officers do not end up getting shot dead’.
The calm voices of these senior police officers even at such a devastating moment demonstrates an important strength of our current model of policing. Expert, independent and non-partisan- yes- imperfect - but ultimately accountable to the law and all the people they serve. We can only hope that, despite our worst fears, the imminent arrival of elected politicians as Police and Crime Commissioners does not undermine this too much.
