Police Officers with Facial Hair

Nathan said:
I keep my hair short for a couple reasons, I'm just used to the way I Iook, long hair would not be me. Plus, short hair is easier to manage, as my head hair texture has always been thin. I go to a barber shop about once a month, around the time we take the dogs to the groomer.
Edit: Facial hair- When I retired I retired from dragging a razor blade across my face! I keep my beard short, I trim it to a short "scruff" every week, helps to disguise the spider veins, makes me look contemporary, Lol.
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Perhaps you could get a discount if you got the haircuts for the dogs and you, at the same place ? SMILE. JImB.
 

jimintoronto said:
I was asking you to be consistent . If you think long hair is bad, say so. I will point out to you that Sikh police officers have long hair UNDER their turbans, and their beards are rolled and secured with a chin net. JImB.
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Simple question - can long hair be used against you in a street fight? Don't make it odd.
 
Nathan said:
I keep my hair short for a couple reasons, I'm just used to the way I Iook, long hair would not be me. Plus, short hair is easier to manage, as my head hair texture has always been thin. I go to a barber shop about once a month, around the time we take the dogs to the groomer.
Edit: Facial hair- When I retired I retired from dragging a razor blade across my face! I keep my beard short, I trim it to a short "scruff" every week, helps to disguise the spider veins, makes me look contemporary, Lol.
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My husband also has thin hair, and he's been keeping it short for decades now. When I met him he had shoulder length hair, I love him either way. He also has a mustache and short beard. I've always groomed both my hubby and my dogs over the years.....for better or worse, lol. He's a brave man. ;)
 

Gardenlover said:
It's not a matter of how I feel. Can long hair be used against you in a street fight?
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Do officers often get into street fights? I thought they had enough weapons and gadgets to control a criminal without having a fist fight. I'm sure many aren't capable of going blow to blow with a street thug.
 
Gardenlover said:
Simple question - can long hair be used against you in a street fight? Don't make it odd.
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Actually, I once saw a fight between two motorists and one had a ponytail and the other guy grabbed the ponytail and swung the guy around! I am pretty sure it ended up on social media somewhere as there were several mobile phones being waved about.
 
SeaBreeze said:
Do officers often get into street fights? I thought they had enough weapons and gadgets to control a criminal without having a fist fight. I'm sure many aren't capable of going blow to blow with a street thug.
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As far as I know, the officers of the Metropolitan Police in London still don't carry firearms, just batons. HollyDolly might shed more light on the use of weapons and gadgets in the UK. They do use protective gear when expecting trouble such as an unruly demonstration or a riot.
 
Warrigal said:
As far as I know, the officers of the Metropolitan Police in London still don't carry firearms, just batons. HollyDolly might shed more light on the use of weapons and gadgets in the UK. They do use protective gear when expecting trouble such as an unruly demonstration or a riot.
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Well, a baton is a weapon that the average citizen can't walk around carrying as far as I know. I really don't care, the point is there are officers, mostly women at this point, who can have their hair long without issue.
 
Warrigal said:
As far as I know, the officers of the Metropolitan Police in London still don't carry firearms, just batons. HollyDolly might shed more light on the use of weapons and gadgets in the UK. They do use protective gear when expecting trouble such as an unruly demonstration or a riot.
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A correction. EVERY UK Police service across the nation has armed response officers on duty around the clock. That includes the London Metropolitan Police. These officers are armed with BOTH semi automatic pistols, and select fire sub machine guns while on duty. Their duties are the same as the unarmed Police in terms of what calls they attend. BUT if a 999 call report indicates an armed subject, the unarmed Constables are told to maintain an overwatch position until the armed response car arrives on scene. The armed response units are clearly marked, both in terms of their uniforms, and their vehicles.

The UK armed response Police have a good record of safe use of firearms, especially in recent London terrorist situations like the shooting on one of the bridges over the Thames river. In that incident, armed response Police officers arrived on scene in under 2 minutes, engaged the armed terrorist and shot him dead with the use of 3 rounds. NO magazine dumps. In UK law, an armed Police officer owns every round that they fire, in every situation. Here is a link to a photo spread of UK armed Police and their uniforms and firearms

.https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=8RfD3cy1&id=F0EA2E51567D29BDB735FC38CF013EB6BA8EC135&thid=OIP.8RfD3cy1IqpNFTC_k4gG4AHaHs&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fi.pinimg.com%2foriginals%2f0e%2f9d%2f2c%2f0e9d2c17748d53aa8853d87ac469a87b.jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR.f117c3ddccb522aa4d1530bf938806e0%3frik%3dNcGOurY%252bAc84%252fA%26pid%3dImgRaw%26r%3d0&exph=1040&expw=1000&q=metropolitan+london+police+armed+response+officers+photos&simid=608034303040185594&FORM=IRPRST&ck=AEBF9AECB53728851DD0AB8322BA0C49&selectedIndex=0&idpp=overlayview&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0

To be clear, most UK police officers are not armed . The percentage of UK Constables who are armed is about 15 percent of the total in the nation. Officers who want to serve in the armed response units must volunteer to join that special group, and they go through a very tough examination process, then a long period of physical training and weapons and tactics training. No one walks in off the street and goes directly into a armed response team. Officers in the armed response teams can ask to go back to unarmed status at any time in their career. JImb.
 
@jimintoronto, I am aware that there are tactical groups in UK who are called upon when an armed response is necessary. This is different to Australia where all police officers are equipped with a sidearm. We also nave tactical response units that are more heavily armed.

I'm not sure that it is still the case, but I remember a female police officer talking to girls at the high school where I was teaching being asked about differences between the male and female officers. She replied that there was no difference except that the side arms of the men had six bullets and those of the women had only five. Rather weird, eh?
 
Warrigal said:
@jimintoronto, I am aware that there are tactical groups in UK who are called upon when an armed response is necessary. This is different to Australia where all police officers are equipped with a sidearm. We also nave tactical response units that are more heavily armed.

I'm not sure that it is still the case, but I remember a female police officer talking to girls at the high school where I was teaching being asked about differences between the male and female officers. She replied that there was no difference except that the side arms of the men had six bullets and those of the women had only five. Rather weird, eh?
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Depending on how long ago that comment was made......In the long ago days of revolvers, the standard pistol was either a Colt, or a Smith and Wesson six shot 38 caliber model. Today the standard Australian pistol is a 9 mm Glock or a Berretta 9 mm. Magazine capacities run from 12 to 18 rounds. I think the story about only five rounds in a female officers pistol is a bit of a mangled memory thing. Some units were trained to carry the six shot pistol with the hammer on an empty chamber as a safety measure. Most street coppers didn't do that.

Here in Canada the standard police hand gun is either a 9mm or a 40 caliber semi automatic. The typical load out here in Canada for uniform officers is a full magazine in the pistol, plus two more fully loaded magazines on the load bearing protective vest. That might add up to 45 or 50 rounds in total. Many patrol vehicles here also have the C7 military semi automatic rifle in 5.56 mm with a 20 or 30 round magazine, and at least 3 or 4 more loaded magazines in the vehicle. That C7 Canadian rifle is the standard issue for the UK's SAS special forces troops now . Given that SAS can buy any weapon system they want, using the C 7 rifle is worth noting. JImB.
 
SeaBreeze said:
Do officers often get into street fights? I thought they had enough weapons and gadgets to control a criminal without having a fist fight. I'm sure many aren't capable of going blow to blow with a street thug.
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Going "hands on " is common. Ground fighting and grappling are taught in most Police Academy training programs.

You mentioned "gadgets " Would you be surprised to learn that Tasers are only effective about 50 percent of the times they are used by Police ? Why ? In order for the Taser to work properly, BOTH of the darts must penetrate the skin of the subject in order to create an electrical circuit that momentarily disrupts the subjects central nervous system. Many factors can cause an ineffective Taser deployment, such as thick winter clothing, sweaty skin surface, the subject is beyond the thirty foot range of the darts, and the big one...The subject PULLS OUT THE DARTS.

Somebody who is high on PCP ( an animal tranquilizer ) does not feel much or any pain, so the Taser will be ineffective. People who are high on PCP commonly take off all their clothes, because one of the side effects is a super high body temperature and heavy sweating. So now you have a sweaty and enraged person, who won't respond to verbal commands, and who has more physical strength than normal, due to the drug PCP. In humans, PCP acts as an exciter, not a tranquilizer.

Pepper . spray is another non lethal choice, but again it's effectiveness is hit and miss in the real world on the street. WHY? Wind conditions, the distance between the subject and the spray canister, and again the mental and physical condition of the subject. Pain compliance holds are taught, but again, in order to control a person who is actively fighting back, you need at least 2 to 4 officers to get the person on the ground, and control their limbs before hand cuffs can be applied.

In some cases where the subject is already hand cuffed, BUT they are still kicking, spitting and trying to bite the officers. In that case, leg shackles and a spit mask would be applied. In order to put such a subject in the rear of a caged patrol vehicle, 4 officers would be used , one on each arm and leg, and the subject would be placed into the rear seat face down, and the rear doors would be locked. Thats what is called "cuffed and stuffed ".

Punching somebody is not a good idea if you are a Police officer. You may break bones in your hand, and if you get cut by somebody's teeth, the chances are that you can get a raging infection from the bacteria in their mouth. A much better tactic is focused baton strikes, aimed at body joints like the knees, hips, shoulders and wrists. No body has ever died from being hit in the shins, but it sure hurts a hell of a lot. JimB.
 
jimintoronto said:
Going "hands on " is common. Ground fighting and grappling are taught in most Police Academy training programs.

You mentioned "gadgets " Would you be surprised to learn that Tasers are only effective about 50 percent of the times they are used by Police ? Why ? In order for the Taser to work properly, BOTH of the darts must penetrate the skin of the subject in order to create an electrical circuit that momentarily disrupts the subjects central nervous system. Many factors can cause an ineffective Taser deployment, such as thick winter clothing, sweaty skin surface, the subject is beyond the thirty foot range of the darts, and the big one...The subject PULLS OUT THE DARTS.

Somebody who is high on PCP ( an animal tranquilizer ) does not feel much or any pain, so the Taser will be ineffective. People who are high on PCP commonly take off all their clothes, because one of the side effects is a super high body temperature and heavy sweating. So now you have a sweaty and enraged person, who won't respond to verbal commands, and who has more physical strength than normal, due to the drug PCP. In humans, PCP acts as an exciter, not a tranquilizer.

Pepper . spray is another non lethal choice, but again it's effectiveness is hit and miss in the real world on the street. WHY? Wind conditions, the distance between the subject and the spray canister, and again the mental and physical condition of the subject. Pain compliance holds are taught, but again, in order to control a person who is actively fighting back, you need at least 2 to 4 officers to get the person on the ground, and control their limbs before hand cuffs can be applied.

In some cases where the subject is already hand cuffed, BUT they are still kicking, spitting and trying to bite the officers. In that case, leg shackles and a spit mask would be applied. In order to put such a subject in the rear of a caged patrol vehicle, 4 officers would be used , one on each arm and leg, and the subject would be placed into the rear seat face down, and the rear doors would be locked. Thats what is called "cuffed and stuffed ".

Punching somebody is not a good idea if you are a Police officer. You may break bones in your hand, and if you get cut by somebody's teeth, the chances are that you can get a raging infection from the bacteria in their mouth. A much better tactic is focused baton strikes, aimed at body joints like the knees, hips, shoulders and wrists. No body has ever died from being hit in the shins, but it sure hurts a hell of a lot. JimB.
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Yes, I'm aware of police training, the effectiveness of tasers and pepper spray and cuffing and shackles, etc. All preferred instead of kneeling on the citizen's neck until death.
 
Old Salt said:
Thanks, Jim. Learn something new every day!
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You are welcome. If you go back and look at the photo of Jagmeet Singh, you will see the black leather strap of his Kirpan over his shoulder and chest. BY agreement with the Speaker of Parliament, Sikh M.P.'s can wear their Kirpan in the House, but it must be wrapped and secured so it can not be drawn as a weapon. Typically the Kirpan is a ceremonial sign of faith, along with the Turban, uncut hair and beard, the steel bracelet, and a special under shirt. Old time male Sikhs do sometimes carry swords during religious celebrations, as a sign that they are ready to "Defend The Faith " against others. JimB.
 

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