November 2001 Volume 82 Number 11 "serving the protectors"

SA police moved from the carriage of concealed to exposed firearms in the late 1970s. Since then, they have, in their manner of bearing those arms, been entirely responsible.

So, why would an on-duty officer wearing his or her gun in a school become any kind of issue? A recent newspaper report (No guns for police in schools, The Advertiser, Sept 6, 2001) claimed that it had.

The report alleged that public concern had followed an earlier article that depicted an officer wearing her gun during a pilot schools program. It did not detail the extent of the alleged concern, or those from whom it came.

But even if small pockets of concern do exist, are they justified? What precisely is the fear? If schools are places of learning, and preparation for the world, should children not see operational police just as they would see them on the street?

Learning institutions are duty-bound to open children’s eyes to the real world. That is education. Neither police management nor the community should present school children with some watered-down version of the complete operational police officer.

Operational police uniforms in SA come with accoutrements, including firearms. Officers should not present themselves as varying fractions of the complete package.

Only officers’ presence in prisons and other such institutions justifies the removal of firearms. There, the degree of risk must take precedence.

The absence of a police officer’s firearm might, in any case, draw just the kind of child attention that some had hoped to avoid.

Police do not, through either body language or movement, emphasize the presence of their firearms. Without such emphasis, children - and adults - have no reason to be anything but relaxed around armed police.

A fine example to all

The average operational police officer spends most of his or her time on the streets under threat. But what of the dangers that, for cops, lie outside their work? Police do not suffer those dangers instead of the ones associated with their work, but in addition to them.

Battles Outside the Job showed the ability of two cops to draw on their inner-strength and survive overwhelming conditions. Their will to survive serves as not only an example to their colleagues, but also the wider community.

The Police Journal congratulates Jamie Lewcock and Liz Gordon-Jones and wishes them continuing good health.

editor@pasa.asn.au

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