Manchester police shootings: Nick Clegg warns against arming police

DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg has warned against arming police following the death of two officers in a grenade and gun attack in Manchester yesterday.

• Nick Clegg rejects calls for police to be armed

• Deputy Prime Minister says ‘not the time to rush to judgment’

• Tributes pour in for policewomen killed in Greater Manchester yesterday

Mr Clegg said there would be “considerable risks” to routinely arming officers and it could damage the relationship between the police and the communities they serve.

Greater Manchester Police officers Nicola Hughes, 23, and Fiona Bone, 32, died yesterday after they were called to investigate what appeared to be a routine burglary report.

Their deaths led to fresh calls for police to be armed, but Mr Clegg said: “I don’t think this is the time to rush to instant judgments, this really is a time for mourning and support, of course, for the family and friends of the two women who have been killed.

“We have a long tradition in this country, which is a great tradition, of policing in the community, of the police being part of the public and the public supporting and giving their consent to the police.

“I think if we were, in an instant to, in a sense, arm our police to the teeth so they become separate from the public, that would be quite a big change which would have considerable risks attached to it.

“I think it is the kind of thing that you need to look at very carefully and certainly not, even though I know emotions are running high, in an instant way after this terrible, terrible tragedy.”

Greater Manchester Police said that they have received over 2,600 online messages of condolence for Bone and Hughes.

The force said work is continuing to make a physical book of condolence available. It has also requested that flowers are left at the junction of Abbey Gardens and Ashworth Lane in Hattersley.

Chief Constable of GMP Sir Peter Fahy said that the messages would be passed on to the officers’ families, and that the outpouring of support “would mean a huge amount” to them.

Mr Clegg said the officers’ deaths were a “heartbreaking reminder” of the “courage, the bravery and professionalism that police officers show up and down the country every day of every week of every month of every year”.