A police spokesman said: “Kent Police was called to a report from a member of the public that several people had been seen in an alleyway near Fremlin Walk, Maidstone, who appeared to be in possession of a firearm, described as black handgun.
“Officers, including firearms officers, attended the area and three teenage boys were arrested in Week Street.“
A number of items were seized, including three black imitation handguns. The suspects were later bailed pending further investigation.”Hurrah! Police doing what we pay them for! Good job, la...
Oh.
...the force came under fire from some passersby who claimed they were “heavy handed” and over the top.
WTAF...!?
Trevor Galloway, 56, witnessed the event and said: “They got the teenagers to get down onto the ground, hands on their head and obviously there were armed police there with big, semi-auto guns I think, walking around.
“It went on for a while. It was kind of obvious there was nothing serious happening.
“After a couple of minutes you could see teenagers being compliant and doing what they were told but they didn't ease up at all.”
“The teenagers were well dressed and seemed eloquent. They seemed normal and not street urchins, they seemed respectable. It didn't seem right.
“Passersby were shouting at them that they were kids and the public weren't worried at all. Nobody was really impressed with how the police handled it.
“I thought it was bit odd. To me it's wrong, I know they've got to cover all bases but they should have figured out quicker nothing was going on.”
But something was going on, wasn't it? Enough that someone called the cops. If they hadn't turned up, would you be complaining about that instead?
It would have taken a few minutes for them to identify that they were not real firearms. In this country we have a real fear on anything that looks like a firearm, Air pistols, Your fingers. We are a country of wusses.
ReplyDeleteRemember that when they get the same call tomorrow they will do exactly the same thing. One person can call every day and the robots swing into action and do the same thing. In this case there may have been a valid reason, but it isn't always and in the US it is called SWATing. People are getting killed by Plod over there and they have here as well.
Remember, the process is the punishment.
Agreed. Julia is committing the fallacy of false dichotomy. Either the police had to ignore the whole thing and not turn up, or they had to come with all guns blazing (metaphorically speaking, thank God) and force the kids down on the ground like in Starsky and Hutch. Actually there were other more reasonable options.
ReplyDelete-- Spiro
Fallacy of the false dichotomy, Julia. There weren't only two choices for the police.
ReplyDeleteThe hypocrisy, and blatant uninformed and inexperienced idiocy is staggering (and on AP too) ... I despair.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, as someone (not police) who has had to deal with multiple both real and 'replica' (which are often so realistic you cannot differentiate until you 'disassemble' them) firearm threats ... you 'must' assume, and act as if, the firearm is real each and every time, because otherwise you (colleagues and innocents) could be dead. This isn't (as is clear commenters here base their 'opinions' on) some puerile Hollywood epic, where they can identify it as such from 100 yards away (in the dark), and where even when real they (especially women) just restrain the criminals with one-finger, shoot the firearm out of the bad-guys hand, or just wound him/her. [In every other country in the world the "teenagers" would most likely have been shot, and considering the daily number of real firearms incidents (brandished by foreign 'teenagers' in the commission of violent crimes) the police here now deal with, I'm impressed they acted as restrained as they did].
Secondly, the crime (I repeat not a police officer, or lawyer - unlike so many others appear, or at least believe themselves superior to) was the 'brandishing', i.e. displaying a weapon in such a manner to cause others to feel threatened. Whether it was real or not (and it patently wasn't some pink plastic version, obviously a toy) is irrelevant, it appeared to be, and thus the crime is ... the same. Would you be happy to allow them to 'display' them to you, your wife, child? I thought not.
Are there instances where the police blindly, and idiotically, follow 'the rules' when 'judgement' (which apparently they aren't allowed any more) would suggest a more nuanced reaction? Of course, the examples are legion but ... this isn't one of them.
To (mis)quote, "it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than speak (or type) and prove it".
I'll just remind you that ... those who are 'soft' on specific crimes are usually so ... because they can see themselves committing that type of crime themselves. So Lord T and Anon, care to tell us where/when/why you 'brandish' weapons in public?
"It would have taken a few minutes for them to identify that they were not real firearms."
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe they felt that there was no need to hurry, 'the process being the punishment' after all. What other punishment would these little shits get, from the justice system?
"Actually there were other more reasonable options."
Such as..?
"There weren't only two choices for the police."
Please elaborate?
"Would you be happy to allow them to 'display' them to you, your wife, child? I thought not."
Damn good point. I wouldn't.