Charmaine Williams and her two daughters, Toni and Tori, aged nine and 18 months, were asleep in their Stanley Road home when officers armed with guns, tasers and riot shields broke down their front door just before 2am on Friday, May 18.
The officers were responding to an anonymous tip-off that a woman was being held at gun-point.Whoops! No harm done, though, right?
Toni, a pupil at Woodside Junior School, said: "They were shouting and talking so fast, we couldn't hear them properly. I nearly fainted, somebody told them a lie that we had a gun in our house.
"The police have done something wrong, they were supposed to knock on the door before they bang it down. I was so confused, I didn't know what was going on."Errrr….
Clearly, not the brains of the family, this one!
Mrs Williams said she will be making a complaint to the IPCC.Or that one, either.
She said: "No one told me why they came in my property, no one gave me a document, I just don't understand. If I had the money I would sue them.
"My daughter needs someone to talk to, she is bottling it up. I'm going to take her to the doctors to see if she can see a therapist.
"The little one she has started to shout, I don't know if its related but she shouts and then starts crying."Translation: “Waaaah! Give me moneys!”
26 comments:
Erm. What the fuck is wrong with "open up, it's the police"?
Plod made a robocop type ballsup and I hope they get sued to fuck.
I'm with the mother on this one those little girls would have been scared out of their wits. That said, an apology and full explanation to the mother and some counselling for the girls to come to terms with it would be right and proper.
Money won't do a damn thing.
"Ooooh, I smell a legal excuse (insert operational choice)for..."
a)breaking into any English home when there is insufficient evidence for a search warrant.
b)'finding' a gun on premises.
c)harassing any citizen disliked by police.
Charmaine was part of that singing duo who APPEARED ON t.v during the Glasgow auditions on Britains Got talent.
Clearly more to this story than is being accepted by commenters on here.
Even the Commentards on the CROYDON guardian don't have much sympathy.
It is CROYDON and the 'victims' are from a community where gun crime is endemic. None of us here know the nature of the initial call to police nor the various checks that would have been gone through before the deployment of armed officers.
There will be a reason for the police action and I doubt it for the reasons many of the tin-foil hat brigade have enjoyed posting.
XX tip-off that a woman was being held at gun-point. XX
Seems like a fucking good enough reason to me, to kick the door down and make a storm entry.
Or would you lot only be happy when the family actualy WERE been held by someone with a gun, who shot them as Mr Plod was asking nicely if any one would mind terribly if the just came in for a look around?
Give you all a fucking good reason to blame the police for something else then, wouldn't it?
Mein Furor,
Wer ist das? Schwarzaffen through das hole ver die door vos kommen! Qvick, gulpen down das Schwerindustrie strength drain kleener.
Bungling fucking police haven't got a clue, charging into people's homes without a warrant, on the arse end of some half lie, outrageous. What is it you want, a fucking police state, like the Stasi? Or should the police be held to account and be obliged to treat people with a little bit of fucking respect?
XX Or should the police be held to account and be obliged to treat people with a little bit of fucking respect? XX
Quite. Next time let the stupid cow get shot. Who fucking cares?
Police should be out doing REAL work, like booking arsehole drivers on double yellow lines.
NHI
If she does end up suing the police-on the face of it a strong claim-then in a civil case all the evidence will come out.
Might be a slightly different story then.
Damned if you do etc...
This tactic of calling in a tip-off about a murder or hostage situation is called 'SWATting' in the States and it is going to get someone killed. There's far too much of this paramilitary shit going on and it needs to stop. No-knock entry is intrinsically dangerous, both for the occupants and the police. If it is ever found out who was behind this hoax then very serious punishment is in order.
Erm. What the fuck is wrong with "open up, it's the police"?
"open up it's the .. *bang*" Think Raoul Moat
police haven't got a clue, charging into people's homes without a warrant..
It was just before 2am. So they go back to the nick, draw a blank warrant from the safe, wake up the Supt who authorises it, wakes up the Magistrate to sign it and the Court Clerk to give legal assistance, unless the Magistrate is a Stipe. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two....
If there was really someone being held at gunpoint, then we would want the police to break in. We can't really find the snitch, unless he was calling from his house phone. So maybe there should just be a standard compensation, say £50 + personal apology, for this kind of thing. NHS counselling is free anyway. Then you'd just get for 50 quid and can shut up.
If you must believe everything you are told at least you could do some finding out.
If there was a person being held at gun point you really dont want to charge in and precipitate things.
Most police take a watch and wait view.
Using electronics ( to see how many people in the house and where) ,and talk etc.
Charging up against a gunman can hurt.
"Erm. What the fuck is wrong with "open up, it's the police"?"
Well, John, FT, Blueknight and anon point out the obvious flaw with this approach, don't they?
"That said, an apology and full explanation to the mother..."
She claims she hasn't had an explanation, but it's clear she has.
" There's far too much of this paramilitary shit going on and it needs to stop. No-knock entry is intrinsically dangerous.."
Yes, it is, and as you point out, both for the occupants and the police - and I can't believe that in today's famously risk-averse police force, they'd do it without some pretty good intel, rather than just on a tip off.
"If there was a person being held at gun point you really dont want to charge in and precipitate things."
Exactly! Unless you have to, or unless you think there isn't an immediate threat, and so you can.
So clearly, they thought they had to. Or...?
Some of your readers are real cretins Julia.
You don't need a warrant to enter premises to save life and property. If you did then you would burn to death in a fire while the police got a warrant before the police or fire brigade rescued you.
Knocking on the door and saying 'Hi it'd the police. Anyone got a gun could you put it down and come out please.' Bang!
Yes, of course the police are always smashing into peoples houses because we don't like them.
Having said there may be more to the story than portrayed.
I work on police firearms and you would never just storm into a house where someone may be being held at gunpoint.
Ideally, you would make contact by telephone or even loudhailer and get the occupants to come out. You would have to consider evacuating the immediate area and police negotiators would be there. Etc.
The original account given to Ms Williams by the police at her house seems more likely. She says she was told that the police were looking for a firearm.
A search for a firearm might be done at 0200 when you know the occupants are asleep and are unlikely to have ready access to the weapon. For that, of course, you would need a warrant.
On another note, why does everyone need bloody counselling? Can this child not speak to her mother for God's sake!
Brontosaurus - "Can this child not speak to her mother for God's sake!
In this case no and IMHO for the simple fact that the mother is in shock herself and can't be objective about it. It's just common sense.
@ Bentosaurus
Indeed. Police actions are always legitimate....well, according to the Book of Plod....'he that scribeth unholy accounts of plod wrongdoing be a false prophet and shall suffer stoning'.
Please accept our gratitude for that biblical nugget, together with best wishes for a tolerable veisalgia, later today.
Melvyn, stop being a complete tosser. You can't? Oh well, carry on then.
Leave Melvin alone.He is king of the internet (self-proclaimed) and us ordinary PC's are not allowed an opinion.How dare we comment on police-related stories.What do we know?
Our knowledge of police work cannot be anything like as good as Melvins.
Excellent wit, Jaded. You must haul that brain down to trivia night at your local, taking care not to drop the jar again.
Nice one Melv
Don't encourage him.He will pretend to be your friend and then turn on you as well.Well I think he will as I don't understand half of what he writes.
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