Whew! Hero marksmen turn up to save the day!
But if you were expecting the scene from 'To Kill A Mockingbird' here, where war hero sniper Gregory Peck steps up to save the town from a rabid beast, think again. Video shot by witnesses (far more calmly and professionally than the dogs gunned down by these 'marksmen'!) and plastered all over Facebook shows a far different story.
The first such I viewed didn't show very much, but count the bullets! You'd think they were shooting at Cape Buffalo!
And the dogs are clearly not 'attacking' at all, but running around terrified, wagging their tails. I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised at the lack of control shown by the supposed 'professionals', since this is oop North, and they clearly have issues there.
And then there's this.
Deane Road and Salisbury Street were closed by police for around two hours whilst they dealt with dogs running around the streets, and re-opened shortly before 1pm.
But at 6pm a police spokesman told The Bolton News that one of the dogs was still missing.How long to realise that? They can't even count the things they are shooting at!
Is the owner a cretin who shouldn't own animals? Undoubtedly. But the 'attack' seems to have been a dog-on-dog fight with a shitzhu (which survived), according to Facebook and the 'rampage' merely excited dogs barking. Frightening, but not a situation calling for a fusillade of gunfire on a suburban street...
No wonder the police are now asking for all the footage, Bit late for damage control though.
No doubt regular readers are confused, given my interest in dangerous dogs. Well, yes, I'm happy to see dangerous dogs shot, when necessary.
But I'm not happy to see excited armed 'marksmen' turn up determined to shoot something no matter what the situation when they get there, just because they can. That way lies America.
"...oop North". What does "oop" mean?
ReplyDeleteWe've been here before haven't we Julia?
ReplyDeleteThose 'highly trained professionals' making a pigs ear of what should be a simple task? Still, look on the bright side, I'm sure that it convinced a few dribbling morons that they are being kept safe by the 'hero gun cops', while they get to play soldiers running round in their faux military gear and failing to hit the target effectively with ammunition that is barred for the rest of us - even though it is the most suitable for the job.
At least this time the targets were smaller so they might have an excuse, not like the horses that met Yorkshires finest a few years ago!
Actually, I just watched the videos again and counted the shots all I can say is, really that many! You are correct that none of the dogs seem to be attacking and are certainly not in a 'pack'. There was however a pack of police vehicles, showing that scope for further cuts still exists in Bolton!!
ReplyDeleteFrom the video shown the dogs weren't even thinking of attacking anyone or anything. They were running round, not towards anything, and were going slowly (for dogs). A shiz tzu was mentioned- if one of those dogs attacked such a small beast it would be dead. What I did see was a load of hysterical people getting the dogs exited, but I see far more action with dogs playing at the local park every day.
ReplyDeleteSure they shouldn't have been loose on the public highway, and I can't see how anyone could have that many dogs on a lead at once.They were being a nuisance, not dangerous.
Lucky no one was hit by a stray bullet! I think a dog would be a very difficult target, small, fast moving, sudden changes of direction. All the more reason to fear stray bullets.
I would suggest a nice treat would have enticed those dogs to come over and get in a van- if the police or anyone else had the wit to do that
This dopehead was clearly using his dogs as weapons. He was shouting and behaving aggressively. The dogs, being pack animals, picked up on his behaviour and started intimidating and biting people. The owner had ample opportunity to take them away and either, could not or would not do so. The Police arrived to find a pack of aggressive dogs running around randomly attacking people. Does anyone think that this has not been trained for? That the Police just turned up and started shooting as their own choice? That there isn't a checklist that has to be gone through?
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if any Police video is part of the court case in May. The ownwer remains in gaol, having been denied bail because of his previous convictions.
Maybe the manual does need changing though. They should have used fully automatics.
The Police made the basic mistake of shooting the dogs and not shooting the cretin who was supposed to be keeping them under control. Clarkson' s Law should ALWAYS take precedence.
ReplyDeletePenseivat
RIP 'Kayos' and 'Taser'. They were the peoples pit bulls. Looking at the videos I saw a pack of dogs on the verge going totally wild. The shots when they were nipping at the woman were frightening. I believe that if she had run she was in trouble. People in the area looked genuinely scared and said chav had an aggressive attitude, he is just another of life's losers gaining status through his trophy dogs. I regard him being being dragged away in tears as a slight payback for society. Reports in the local media show him and his dogs as being 'problematic' shall we say.
ReplyDeleteAll I would say is my right to walk around without treading in dog muck and being bitten trumps your right to a 30 kilo s**t machine.
Retired
" What does "oop" mean?"
ReplyDelete'Up'. In one of those funny accents they do there... ;)
"We've been here before haven't we Julia?"
Oh yes! And with the apparent new 'don't seize & kennel them at vast expense, just shoot on sight' policy, we'll see it again and again...
"There was however a pack of police vehicles, showing that scope for further cuts still exists in Bolton!!"
*chuckles*
Yes, the folly of trying a TPAC manouvre on a small fast-moving quadruped in a town street would be amusing, if not for the potentially deadly consequences.
"Lucky no one was hit by a stray bullet!"
There's one pic of a cop aiming a handgun directly at a dog squarely in front of the camera. Whoever took that pic obviously values a picture more than their life.
And Bolton cops appear not to have heard the word 'ricochet'...
"This dopehead was clearly using his dogs as weapons."
ReplyDeletePretty lousy ones, then. Some minor bites.
A nuisance, and intimidating, certainly. But dogs of that size and power, properly trained to attack, would have done tremendous damage.
"Maybe the manual does need changing though. They should have used fully automatics."
Christ! I wouldn't trust them with a full-auto SuperSoaker!
"Clarkson' s Law should ALWAYS take precedence."
He's a bigger target too, and not moving as fast... ;)
"Looking at the videos I saw a pack of dogs on the verge going totally wild. The shots when they were nipping at the woman were frightening."
ReplyDeleteAgain, 'nipping' isn't biting. And the only reason more people aren't up in arms is because he was a 'problematic chav'.
But you know what? The police have a duty to protect his 'property' just as much as anyone else's...
From the looks of the video these "marksmen" werent using rifles, but pcs plods favourite weapon the hk mp5 - basically a submachine gun that fires a pistol bullet. I'm sure they are great fun being capable of firing 800 rounds a minute, but to kill something from a distance you need a rifle such as 303 or close up a shotgun. As anonymous said - they had great fun, running around playing soldiers.
ReplyDelete