Monday 12 November 2012

Fool Me Once, Shame On You. Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me. Fool Me Three Times…

…I guess I must be a police officer?
Derbyshire police has called the incident "regrettable" but said it was acting on information that the property may have been used for drugs purposes.
Information they’ve been given before – twice – according to the homeowner. With the same empty-handed result, though on those two occasions, at least they managed to avoid maiming anyone:
Mr Dharam, 42, said he was upstairs when he heard his partner screaming. He said: "I wanted to make sure Shanie and our daughter Shania, who is only 11 months old, were okay.
"This is the third time in the past two or three years the police have raided the house for drugs and they have never found anything. I just don't know why our house is being picked on."
Because, as we've seen before, ‘intelligence’ (as in a tipoff from a concerned citizen or a deliberate troublemaker) is enough to have the police breaking down your door and being pretty insouciant about their right to do so too…

I mean…this was drugs. Not terrorism, or serial killing.

Is it really worth the potential risk of blinding someone? Or killing Ms Dharam’s 11 month old baby, if she’d happened to have her in her arms when they burst in the door?
Superintendent Gary Parkin, who is head of operational policing in Derby, said:… “This information was put before a magistrate who granted the warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act. It was carried out by specially trained officers.
"When executing warrants it is important to enter the property quickly and without warning to the occupants to ensure no potential evidence is lost. It is regrettable that the occupant appears to have been behind the door as our officers tried to gain entry.
"Our investigations into the incident are ongoing."
Yes, yes, I'm sure you’ll be quite happy so long as you've dotted the I’s and crossed the T‘s and you’ll claim you bear no responsibility for having acted on false information (even though the last couple of times were false too, but who’s counting?) and you’ll probably pay them some money to shut up and go away, but… …how do you think this incident looks to ordinary people?

That could be MY door. Or my elderly neighbour’s and he has a heart condition.

Talk about winning hearts and minds.

11 comments:

Peter Risdon said...

In the USA it's called 'SWATting' - making a bogus call to police to get a SWAT team kicking in an enemy's door.

jaded said...

Oh well after that rubbish post about the Morris dancers I expected you to get back on form.

Let's put this into perspective.How many addresses were raided on the day this one was done? Loads? And only one went wrong? As for the inference about it only being drugs-you have to go in quick or they end up down the toilet.It was bad luck that she was behind the door-we don't get issued with X-ray vision.

Come on down NTN and MTG etc etc.

MTG said...

The response of any reasonable citizen towards this type of violent, ongoing State thuggery, must be one of detestation.

The tiresome response of UK Police to a rising tsunami of criticism, has focused on denial and/or the deployment of semi-literate goons; paid to sit at a monitor and respond to public comments with ready-made excuses for the worst of police conduct whilst attempting to discredit every complainant.

Today's nasty example can only provoke more of the same polarised fury.

jaded said...

MTG you didn't let me down.Biased and difficult to understand as always.
The police made a mistake and apologised but that's clearly not enough for you.Congratulations though for not mentioning radiators and doughnuts.

MTG said...

Your limitations have never irritated me, WC Jaded. However I do hope that an invitation to share my Sunday cuisine will be more to your liking.

Knock on the side gate at around 1800hrs. I can assure you that it's the very best time to pick up a full doggy bag.

jaded said...

How will I know where you live Melvin? Will it be the house with the long grass?

MTG said...

Come, come, WC Jaded.
I cannot possibly endorse a hint of decent grass here without attendant risks of fractured orbits, courtesy of smashed doors.

John Pickworth said...

"When executing warrants it is important to enter the property quickly and without warning..."

No its not!

How about a polite knock on the door first. And should Derek the Druggie flush his bag of coke down the lav then isn't that justice of sorts? Of course the cannabis farmer might be hard pushed getting rid of the evidence in the same manner and similarly the Albanian with the 60 stolen laptops.

The only time the police should force entry is when the occupant refuses to answer the door and/or they are suspected of being armed and dangerous or likely to take a hostage. And terrorists? Argh well, the police don't kick in the door now do they... in case the gaff is rigged with explosives.

It's about time the police respected people's homes (including those of the criminal) except in the MOST severe of circumstances. Recreating the storming the Bastille to enable them to pop a roach into an evidence bag without getting their hands wet first isn't an excuse.

JuliaM said...

"In the USA it's called 'SWATting'..."

Thank god our police aren't routinely armed, eh?

"As for the inference about it only being drugs-you have to go in quick or they end up down the toilet."

So? They leave no traces? So what?

What's more important - busting someone for drugs, or not endangering a possible innocent party?

"The police made a mistake and apologised.."

No. They didn't. They uttered a few mealy-mouthed platitudes. That is NOT an 'apology'.

"The only time the police should force entry is when the occupant refuses to answer the door and/or they are suspected of being armed and dangerous or likely to take a hostage."

Spot on!

Anonymous said...

Talk about winning hearts and minds, Mail Headline:

Businessman who tackled burglar in his mother's home is held for 18 HOURS in police custody for 'assaulting' intruder.

Anonymous said...

Jaded, how come these warrants are issued willy nilly and without HARD evidence , when a scum bags DNA is on the roof of my wifes bussines and he has coin bags in his rucksack and the fucking assholes wont prosecute him. Fuck this society the police and the comic CPS are really pissing of decent people. Its about time decent folk protected themselves. Funny how my son and I were read the riot act about reprisalls and he was treated with kid gloves.
Go fuck yourself why should we help the police when all they do is shit on decent folk.