Soldiers are patrolling Italian cities, would you support a similar measure in the UK/ US?

Question

... They are patrolling the high crime areas - they think it will reduce serious crimes such as mugging. they will be on joint patrol with the police and the police have authority and only the police have the powers of arrest.

however, many claim it makes Italy look like a military dictatorship and the soldiers will also be patrolling areas with high terrorist risks - critics claim it will have a massive negative impact on tourism.

Thoughts?

Answer 1

Sounds like a good plan to me and would help with the low numbers of Police on the vast areas we now have to cover due to government cut backs.

It may also make the gobby little sh**s who think they are something special because they wear a hoody and tracksuit bottoms think twice about causing trouble when they have the fear of a good kicking by a squaddie!

Answer 2

It would give the police more time to catch criminals, I'm for it.

Answer 3

There is nothing like high crime rate to deter tourists from visiting.  And as long as the soldiers behave well.  Most tourists would probably prefer to see the soldiers rather than criminals roaming the streets.

But soldiers are not trained well to deal with civilians.  And their presence on the streets may lead to unintentional collateral damage to innocent civilians.  

Perhaps a better solution would be to contract out foot patrol work to private security companies.  These companies would hire and train their workers to patrol the streets only, while the rest of police work would be left to the regular police force.

Answer 4

NO.  Posse Commatus prevents military from operating on US soil.

If we need more law enforcement, then let's hire more police.  Soldiers do not belong patrolling civilian areas.  

This is not about tourism, it's about our rights.  

Answer 5

I have no problem with this, they wouldnt need to be fully armed, and would need some police powers. The thing is Italy havent really commited their troops to much, so they are probably as well on their streets as they are anywhere else. Here in the uk we have a lot of commitments all over the world (think of all our outposts that are manned still in addition to the war zones) which would mean it may not be as easy logistically.

The itilians wouldnt blink an eye to this as they already have 2 police forces one of which has a miliatary edge to it.

Answer 6

Tourism? Are you more concerned about tourism than protecting your citizens? This type of thing has already occured in the US after 9-11, and during Hurricane Katrina. Yes, I support it.

Answer 7

In the UK it is one of our HIGHEST conventions that the army should NEVER police UK citizens. That would be a road to ruin.

xx VP

Answer 8

I would support it but thought the police got paid to do it.Maybe if they were put back on the beat then the problem would get solved.

Answer 9

In the U.S., use of the military for law enforcement is rare, and there are severe limitations. The military is not eager to play that role, either. Following disasters or in times of severe civil unrest, when martial law is declared, the military may take up the role under the command of their own officers. Most often to be used is the National Guard, since they are essentially a military arm of the state, although they can be federalized. There are some situations in which the military is called upon, on account of specialized equipment they possess, but it's now frequent. There is a strong historical, legal, and philosophical prejudice against using the military as police, rather than the civil police. The line between civil police and the military is not so sharp in some other countries. Some police may be agents of the defense department, for instance.  

Answer 10

We need the same thing here in the U.K.

Answer 11

My understanding is the police rarely lose in a fire fight so they extra gun's wouldn't be needed.  Soldiers are trained to kill, not police.  If we trained them to police, we might as well simplify things and call them police officers instead of soldiers.

Bad idea in my opinion for purely logical reason.

Answer 12

I would whole heartedly support the idea.

On condition that the Police were removed from desk jobs and from behind mobile speed cameras and concentrated on catching the real criminals.