Quote Originally Posted by carl View Post
David:

The ex-SAS officer said UK patrol officers would need military training in order to effectively respond to such an attack... I would guess that a lot of combat experienced men have been or are entering our ...American police a valuable human resource with which to combat a Mumbai style attack. Would it be the same in the UK?
Carl,

I think the numbers of ex-military recruits to the UK police has dropped substantially in the last twenty years, partly as our military has shrunk, some have joined the PMC sector and the police has gone "up market" for college graduate-level education. A lot of UK firearms officers have no military background. Plus the police have not been recruiting large numbers and many now expect not to recruit for sometime - "cuts" in public spending (13% budget cut for my own employer, in one year).