Well, this is a very difficult subject to deal with...
Personally, I don't think we should arm our Police (the 'bobby' on the beat..so to speak) as a matter of course. I seriously think it would just cause a street 'arms race'...
I do feel that we should re-introduce the death penalty for the murder/manslaughter of police officers, or at the very least 'life' in prision, meaning whole life with no parole. Statistics don't come into this because you can make them 'lean' either way (for or against), it should be a reflection of 'our societies' moral standing on this crime.
Currently, we have armed officers 'on the street' pretty much everyday, nearly all forces operate armed response units, which I think is on balance a good system. It keeps a small number of trained specialist officers who can deal with armed incidents as required, but keeps them available for everyday duties too. There may well be a need to require all forces to do this, as there is no current requirement, although Cheif Officers can arm officers at will currently. I feel that there is room for improvement in procedures for armed officers and how they are deployed. For instance Friday's terrible incident was initiated by a panic alarm, I would say that this should cause the duty officer in the control room to ask for an ARV, not normal beat officers, to attend...
The Jean Charles de Menezes incident and others of it's ilk, show that the job of an armed officer is not easy. We are asking them to take split second decisions of life or death, mistakes will be made but we should stand by those officers & respect their decision. After all, if an armed officer had shot one of the bombers on July 7, then he'd currently be regaurded as a hero and no quesions would be asked of his or her motives.....