Question for UK Members who watch Law and Order UK

[Philly_SWAT]

I recently discovered the channel BBC America, which among other things shows Law & Order UK shows on it. Right now they are showing shows from 2009, and I have seen 5 of the shows. As someone who has been watching the L&O franchise for 20 years now, I really like this show, and like it much better than the recently debuted Law and Order Los Angeles. After having seen 5 episodes so far, I have a question about different races of people.

So far, I have seen a black judge, 2 different black defense lawyers, a black crack dealer (you guys have crack dealers over there?) an inter-racial couple, and of course one of the "crown prosecuters" is a black woman. Is there that many black people over there in the UK? I mean, I know that there are in fact black people there, but I didnt think that there was so many. In other words, do you think that the show is accurately representing the percentage of black people in the UK, or do you think it is higher on the show than in reality?

Also, it appears that the two main detectives dont carry guns?!? Is this how it is? The one episode with the crack dealer...he had shot a cop, so they knew he might be armed when they went to get him, well they had a heavily armed SWAT team go with them, and the detectives held back until he was subdued before approaching.

[SymphonicX]

Aww your naviety is endearing!

hehehe only kidding

The UK is vastly multicultural - big cities like London, Birmingham, Manchester, etc etc are massively multicultural. Areas in London such as Brixton have been famous for years for being home to a massive afro-caribbean community...! So I'd say it's a fairly accurate if not maybe a tiny bit optimistic view of the legal system - its still more balanced towards white people but to see a court room like you described wouldn't seem alien to me at all - unless I was on trial :)


And yeah, we have crack dealers...lol, that killed me! If you came here and watched just an hour of daytime TV such as Trisha or Jeremy Kyle you'd see a bunch of skanky crackheads arguing!!

Guns, especially handguns have been completely illegal since some nutter shot a school full of kids in the 90s in Scotland. We have a gun problem, but nothing near like Americas gun problem - I've never even seen a real gun and I grew up in one of the roughest parts of London. Farmers are allowed to use guns for their trade and there are various sporting exceptions in place but a concealed weapon is a big "no no" and lands you five years in jail instantly.

I'm no law enforcement expert but the idea is that if someone has a gun, an armed response unit is called to deal with the problem. So the scenario you described is spot on really. Cops don't run around brandishing weapons every time they pull over an old lady - and I guess, as a result, crims don't feel a massive need to shoot cops dead in the street, although it does happen every now and then...maybe every 5 years.

Armed response units typically take about 4 to 15 minutes to reach any scene in the city - so it's an efficient and nice alternative to having cops with guns.