to wonder why are we pussyfooting around and where's the Army ffs

[ChumleeIsMyHomeboy]

It's out of control now and surely such Armed Forces as we have left should be getting right in there putting a stop to it? At the moment there is no reason at all for restraint. I'm shocked - and I lived through the '76 riots in Johannesburg.

izzywhizzyletsgetbusy IF it's true, the reason is obvious.

Excellent. Why don't you enlighten us instead of posting spitty little comments like that?

Altinkum that is genuinely frightening

altinkum - The army aren't there to tackle the public.

Do you think riots haven't happened before? The police are used to dealing with public disorder and rioting. Whatever the reason for things not being brought under control yet, it's certainly not because the police are out of their depth.

what army?

Altinkum, your poor friend her DD must be terrified, it is so much worse when you have DC to protect.
Shelly they have tackled the public in NI why not on the Mainland? No one is saying go in with guns/ rubber bullets or even water cannon
My Dp is ex military and was in the emerg services in the Uk, many of his friends are working in that environment tonight.
The Army are trained [NI, UN duties] for providing shield lines which could help get Ambulances and fire brigades down the roads. Only a limited number of police have been trained to deal with riots which limits the numbers of police. Why not use all the resources available?

...and what would you want the Army to do? There is a lot they could do, but considering that all this supposedly kicked off when a policeman shot an armed man dead, and most people are now blaming said policeman for starting it all, how do you think the Army should deal with it?

Some units (actually most units these days) have Public Order Training, but it's not nice, it's not fluffy, it's aggressive and painful. We use kettling, we use shields as weapons and we are pretty good at throwing failed petrol bombs back. Look at the abuse the police are getting now, and the abuse they got during the student riots and tell me, why do you think we would do any better?

(actually we would do better I would hope, as we do it more often and in bloody awful conditions, but if you were to allow the military to use lethal force, or aggressive force I dread to think how many reviews/control panels/suspensions etc there would be after)

...when I think of the abuse that I / other MNers / mil wives etc have had in here previously...( And it's Tommy this and Tommy that and get outa here you brute...)

Altinkum is ur friend and her LO ok? Her poor little girl
Must be so frightened :(

And what exactly do you expect the army to do? Soldiers are neither trained nor equipped to deal with rioters. They're trained to kill people and, by implicit/explicit threat, hopefully get away without having to kill people. (Well, actually, most of them are trained to support/feed/supply/manage the soldiers who kill people but you get the gist.)

As anti-social and abhorrent as it is, setting fire to a police car isn't yet a capital offence.

LtEveDallas well said once more you articulate what I wanted to say but much more succinctly

Shelly they have already said that most of the police are not trained for this, and they are far from in control so they obviously cant cope.

So we should let london burn to the ground should we

Snobs, actually we are very well trained in dealing with filters and fighting in built up areas - and we have the equipment to do so.

Ok iPhone turned rioters into filters WTF?

Act of parliament is needed to call the army to deal with civil disorder I think, so not a simple thing.

It is a load of bloody children who are too ignorant to care that they are terrifying families, and just see it a chance to have a go at the police.

I think soldiers are trained to do slightly more than just kill people. Don't you think that's a little insulting to service personnel in general? That they're capable or trained only to kill? In any event, the regular police force can't cope - so what would anyone suggest we do now?

My OH is a former RM officer.

I dread to think what he and his friends (former colleagues) would be like at dealing with a riot. They're highly trained in hand-to-hand combat and other such violence social skills as well as small arms and other weaponry but armed forces training isn't geared around dealing with civilian issues. I honestly suspect there would be rather a mess made of the rioters.

The police is the right service to deal with this and is very capable, given the chance.

Snorbs its a bit bigger than a police car on fire, dont you think?

Snorbs its a bit bigger than a police car on fire, dont you think?

i cant believe people are calling for the army ffs. ridic

Well Custardo - fine - that's your take so if you were in charge what would you do? Nothing?

Water cannon the lot of them

What we do now is up to COBRA and I am sure there will be a demand from otehr forces - a bit like the moving around of police during the miners strike - there will be sufficient staff natiionwide, esp. if the looting habit doesn't sread too much.

Or,

they could invite the French CRS over for a mini-break in London.