Those cops look at a knife like a Manhattan cop looks at a guy with an UZI.
This.
I used to work with an Aussie who had lived in London for many years. Our company transferred him to Seattle to work with us, and he was horrified when I pulled out a Benchmade 940 to open a box one day. I told him that knives were common in the US. Our youngest employee, a young woman right out of college, pulled out her Swiss Army Knife to show him. A few days later, I gave him a single-blade locking folder with jigged bone scales as a welcome gift.
He acted like I had just given him a freshly severed human head. Knife possession is a BIG deal in the UK.
Okie John
I lived in the UK for a while 10 years ago. It was OK to
own a locking folder knife, but they are considered "fixed blade" knives and you may not carry one. I bought a Swiss Army non-locking folder to carry. I once took a tour of the Houses of Parliament and forgot it was in my pocket. At the security station they were very nice about holding it and returning it after I was done, but the guard examined every single blade to make sure none of them locked. I could have been arrested if any of them had.
I have been told that as a general rule, law enforcement officers in England don't carry firearms. Maybe not their SWAT equivalent kind of officers, but their normal street cops, rural or city.
Any truth to that?
Kind of. Things are changing.
Bobbys used to carry a wooden truncheon and that was it. I can't swear to that as being the current standard.
I worked with British transplants who were policemen. Some were "armed response officers". They were cruising the city and if a violent incident was called in, they would get to the scene as fast possible. Not only did they have sidearms, but they may also have been carrying shotguns, submachineguns, carbines.
They have SWAT type teams. Some special units are armed with sidearms.
The time of unarmed police across the board, is past.
