gazza sounds pretty drunk there its all a bit weird. now they say he was shot by a tazer, the guy in this pic seems to be enjoying himself
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10583023.stm why is he pulling that stupid face?!!
I'm not convinced that picture that's been thrown around is entirely legit. Although I'm just an armchair dude and not so well versed about the UK police as I am about various militaries, there's three things that really throw me off about that pic:
1) Gurning dude's helmet with its funky "POLICE" font - that looks like the plastic helmets that airsoft SWAT wannabees wear. I've never seen a legit police kevlar LWH with "POLICE" written on it like that. The hlemt is also not done up right, and, although it may just be because it's not been done up right, the suspension on the helmet doesn't look like LWH suspension either. Again, looks more like the cheap plastic PASGT copies.
2) The firearm is what appears to be a G36K or a G36C, the angle makes it a bit difficult to tell. But I didn't know the police used G36 of either variety, MP5 of various types is more common (usually MP5A5) firing 9mm rounds; the G36 is chambered for rifle-calibre 5.56 NATO. Also, I'm not sure why there's an EOTECH sight on there, first I've ever seen of that in UK police use as well.
3) Dude holding the rifle has his finger
inside the trigger guard; usually you rest your finger on the reciever, pulling it inside the trigger guard to fire. Less chance of accidental discharge this way. His front grip is also weird.
Thing is that TASER looks correct, but I'm no expert on them. So not sure what's going on in that pic really, quite a few strange inconsistencies which suggest to me it's not legit, but then it may be (as I say, I'm no expert on UK firearms officer training/equipment/behaviour).