The Chink in our Armour. Are we adequately equipped for this fight?
As heard on Athlone Community Radio
FOR OVER two months, Spanish police forces have been outside in the cold and rain, in some unseasonably bad weather and I’m sure these frontline officers have had numerous unimaginable tasks to carry out and often while wearing a mask.
Two weeks ago we were let out for an hour’s exercise per day and twice, I passed the same police patrol point in my neighbourhood.
Normally I see one policeman armed with a G36 assault rifle standing by a police van and one or two officers around him, these men all wore masks, the first day and I wished it was possible to record this historic image as I imagined that they will probably not need to wear face masks, in the near future.
That near future arrived early the following morning as six men stood by their police van and passed the Heckler&Koch machine gun to one of the other officers, possibly relieving them of their shift.
Despite passing the machine gun to one another and another man carrying a riot shield, the majority of these men that morning, were not wearing gloves nor masks and unknown to five of the men, one man was openly coughing as he handled police equipment by the van’s side door.
As I have stated, these men have spent over two months outside in the cold, handling unimaginable duties on the frontlines of a global pandemic with 27,709 Spaniards dying to date.
These brave men have been exposed to long hours, added stress, and a deadly disease and I hope they will have a chance to rest and recover after this battle but think that they should wipe down their machines guns if not put them down altogether.
There is no riot shield capable of protecting these men from a disease handed to them by a fellow officer. A virus that could do untold damage within their ranks and families and other frontline staff.
Then again, these men have been working hard without rest in horrible weather and sometimes a sneeze is just a sneeze and a cold just a cold but we need to realise that the chink in the armour is not about opening up the economy but losing sight of an enemy we have been fighting for two long months.
In the past, I have heard the sarcastic commentary that the police couldn’t catch a cold but if handled wrong, these machines guns could actually prove lethal.
I hope the police are being adequately protected and tested for COVID-19 but Heckler&Koch weapons don’t offer the kind of protection that is needed in this fight.
Now is not the time to shoot ourselves in the foot. This battle has already gone on far too long.
We don’t need a blue flu too and I hope everyone is remaining vigilant as we start to lift restrictions here in Spain.
PHOTO OP: Pictures were taken in 2014 long before Coronavirus.
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