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Ah. I remember the good old British Bobby. Tipping his hat to all the ladies, clipping naughty children around the ear and helping old ladies across the road.
Sadly I was watching Dixon of Dock Green.
"If you want to know the time ask a policeman..."
He'll then arrest you, fingerprint you, put your details on the DNA database then chuck you in the cells with a smelly tramp and Harry the Legbreaker overnight. If you're lucky. Merry fecking Christmas!
I understand that everyone in the video are doing their job but it just goes to show you how fucking stupid the world is these days. You can photo and film anything in public, right? But they can simply say you look dodgy and demand to your details and your footage? Jesus, even the policeman didn't know what he could actually do lol.
Check out my scripts...if you want to, no pressure.
On 17 January 1983 Stephen Waldorf was shot by police hunting David Martin, who absconded from custody at Marlborough Street magistrates' court where he was due to face a charge of attempting to murder a police officer. Waldorf was critically injured in a police ambush in a west London street after he was mistaken for Martin. He was shot five times, and then pistol whipped by an officer who had attempted to shoot him in the head, but had already used all his ammunition. Two officers, John Jardine and Peter Finch, stood trial for attempted murder and attempted wounding but were cleared of all charges in October 1983. Waldorf made a full recovery and eventually received compensation.
On 24 August 1985 John Shorthouse aged 5 was shot dead in a police raid on his home in Birmingham. PC Brian Chester, stood trial for manslaughter but was acquitted. Following the Shorthouse case, West Midlands police abandoned its practice of training rank-and-file officers for firearms duties and formed a specialist squad.
On 28 September 1985 Cherry Groce, a mother-of-six, was shot and paralysed by officers looking for her son.The officer was cleared of all criminal charges.
On 15 January 1998 James Ashley, 39, was shot and killed by Sussex Police while naked and unarmed during a drugs raid at his flat.
In June 1999 Derek Bateman, 47, of Surrey was shot by a single bullet through the heart after his girlfriend went to a neighbour's house and telephone the police, telling them he was armed and had threatening to shoot her. It was then determined that the weapon he had brandished at the police was an air pistol. No officer was prosecuted.
On 22 September 1999 Harry Stanley, a painter and decorator, born in Bellshill near Glasgow, was walking home when he was shot dead by two Metropolitan Police officers following an erroneous report that he was carrying a sawn-off shotgun in a plastic bag. The officers challenged Mr Stanley from behind as he turned to face them, they shot him dead at a distance of 5 metres. It later emerged that the plastic bag actually contained a broken table leg that Stanley's brother had just fixed for him. Following numerous enquiries (in November 2004 a jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing) both officers were exonerated after 6 years of court cases and inquiries. It was found that neither officer was liable for criminal charges nor would face any disciplinary sanctions.
On 12 July 2001 Mr Andrew Kernan, 37, a gardener from Wavertree in Liverpool was shot dead in the street by the second of two shots fired by officers of the Merseyside Police Force. The officers had been called to the scene by the victim's mother, Marie Kernan, who had also requested a psychiatric medical team attend her home because her schizophrenic son, Andrew Kernan, was being aggressive. At least four police officers from the Merseyside force went to Mrs Kernan's flat but Andrew Kernan ran into the street, dressed in his pyjamas, wielding a Katana. Mr Kernan slashed off the wing mirror of one of the police cars. After negotiating with him for 25 minutes and using CS gas officers fired two shots. The second bullet hit Mr Kernan in the chest and he died on the way to hospital.
A verdict of lawful killing was returned by the jury at Liverpool District Coroner's Court on 9 December 2004, and the Coroner, Andre Rebello, praised the actions of the officers at the scene. The IPCA Commissioner for the North West, Mike Franklin, stated that “the officers involved in this case were presented with a rapidly evolving scenario... Firearms officers at the scene acted bravely and the investigation has found no evidence that their actions fell below that required or expected of them."
On 22 July 2005, Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian national living in London, was shot dead by unnamed Metropolitan Police officers on board an Underground train at Stockwell tube station, in the belief he was a suicide bomber. Initially, police claimed incorrectly that he was wearing bulky clothing and that he had vaulted the ticket barriers running from police. It soon became clear that de Menezes did not vault and run from the police, but police did not correct their statement until the correct information was leaked to the press. They later issued an apology, saying that they had mistaken him for a suspect in the previous day's failed bombings and acknowledging that de Menezes in fact had no explosives and was unconnected with the attempted bombings. Following an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), the Crown Prosecution Service announced on 17 July 2006, that no charges would be brought against any individual officers in relation to the death of Jean Charles.
On 2 June 2006, two family homes were raided in an operation involving 250 police in east London. One man, Abdul Kahar, was shot in the shoulder by police during the raid, but was later released without charge. The raid was based on faulty intelligence. No officer has been prosecuted in connection with the shooting.
According to an October 2005 article in The Independent, in the preceding 12 years, 30 people had been shot dead by police, and no officers had been convicted in connection with any of them.
From Wikipedia.
Ah yes, the good old British Bobby. Great aren't they?
I should say I have a very sour view of the Police (if you didn't guess).
A good few years ago now, when I was 28, I was picked up while walking through town, on my way to the shops, because I matched a wanted man's description. I was held for hours, my home searched, my elderly mother threatened.
I was 28. Fair haired. Beard. 5'6". English accent.
The criminal they were looking for?
40s. Balding. Clean shaven. Over 6' tall. Irish.
Oh, and he smelled strongly of drink.
I'm teetotal.
I never got an apology. Indeed, I was never even officially cleared. Thankfully, it was in the days before DNA, or no doubt I'd be on some Database somewhere.
Just playing devil's advocate here, but the author of that article might garner some more sympathy if it weren't so painfully obvious that he got the exact reaction he sought to illicit.
If the police have incorrectly interpreted a law, then by all means the police hierarchy should do all in it's power to remedy the situation. Likewise, the press and the public should do their part in bringing the issue to light. That said, I don't think the public or the police are properly served by the granstanding that this journalist appears to have engaged in.
Here's why my view of UK Police is somehwat squered.
If you're minding your own business and then skinhead Nazi type racist thug barsardos attack you, then beat you up proper, there is always the chance the Police might appear and save your skin.
However, when you're minding your own business and then Police Nazi type racist thug barstardos attack you, then beat you up proper, there is little chance skindheads will apear and save you.
I've no problem with Police interpreting the law. It's when they ignore it completely I get slightly agitated.
"Kettling" in London. Don't they know kettles boil?
The author of the article was just filming the most famous builing in London. Quite how this is a security risk when the web is full of such photos is beyond the pale.
Ever lived in a big city and had your house robbed, or been mugged? Car stolen? I have. Their response was, erm, less than encouraging. I was certain buglaries and assault might be of interest to them. I shoulda said a terrorist did it.
So you're saying the Police behaviour was okay? As was the security guard's?
A good few years ago, a family my Dad knew were having problems with their yobbish neighbours. This eventually escalated into an actual assault taking place on the woman in her own garden, where she was beaten up. She was saved from serious injury by my father's intervention - and this when he was recovering from the first of several strokes, so he could have ended up in hospital himself (he's an ex-soldier, so tough little sod).
Anyway, while they were awaiting the trial of the neighbour, a gang of her friends and family turn up at the doorstep of the assault victim and try to force their way in. She phones the police. One - one - copper turns up, says that the gang (now lurking on the nearby street corner) are doing nothing illegal (er, intimidating a witness in a trial?) - and drives off!
Thankfully, his mere presence made the gang think twice, or god knows what would have developed.
The problem is that you hear of this sort of thing all the time. There was the recent case of a poor woman driven to suicide and the murder of her disabled daughter after years of abuse from gangs of yobs. The Police response - "It's not our job to deal with this".
And the problem is, to touch on the subject of another thread, when people feel that the law is letting them down, and can see it for themselves first hand, they will be driven straight into the arms of those extremists who promise that law and order will be restored.
I remembered a TV drama that appeared not long after Cracker, with Robbie Coltrane, peaked.
It was about Stephan Kiszko, and heart wrenchingly good is was too.
For those interested in these types of things this site covers most of them. It's rather basic in design, but I can't fault its content.
Kiszko's case would break most hearts. Innocent.co.uk explain exactly why. It, and all the other cases, demonstrate why we must have trustworthy watchmen to watch our powerful and self protecting law enforcement officers.
Sorry to be so serious on a Sunday morn, but some things need saying. We shouldn't forget. But the for the grace of God, and /or good luck, depending on your point of view, Kiszko could be anyone of us. Ren
The police are always lovely at Christmas. Full of joy and good tidings. Ho hum.
I was stopped during daylight hours by the PSNI yesterday. They're the shiny new and improved RUC. I think it stands for Pretty Sexy Naughty Infidels, or something like that.
Anyways, apparently one of my brake lights was faulty. Funny that, worked fine when my passenger pressed the brake. Musta been my shoe.
Sadly Herr Bobby couldn't come with anything else. Genius.
Then I had to blow into his magic plastic bag. Alas! Sadly it didn't turn the required colour for further action from the boys in blue. They had to depart. Oh woe is them!
Anyway, more classic law enforcement genius here...