Impoverished Area Of London Riots

[Tez3]

Thanks, I thought that would be the case, but no being a LEO I figured best to check. The articles seem to be sort of stressing that point a little. If it's SOP then it's not anything out of the ordinary.

You need to have an outside agency or someone outside of the officers chain of command look at a shooting to make sure it was all above board, it's fairer on the officer who then knows he's in the clear, there's no suspicions or blame hanging over him/her. It's fair for the public as well to know that officers aren't taking the law into their own hands. if it turns out to be unjustified people need to know that too.
I imagine that the articles are stressing it to show demonstrators and others perhaps that it won't be whitewashed and proper procedures were in place.

 

[billc]

I was driving around with the news on the radio when the reporter for ABC news gave a quick report on the riots. The reporter said that rioting continued in south london or something like that and then he said, the riots were in response to the police shooting and killing a father of four. Foolish me, I waited a second to here more but that was it. So, do British police just shoot fathers of 4 for no reason? I have read a couple of the newspaper articles on the shooting incident and the posts here on the study so I have an idea of what actually happened. Come on though, the media is so reflexively anti-police they don't even see it.

 

[MA-Caver]

See it in pictures... pretty bad.
http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/08/the-london-riots/

 

[billc]

The radio guy tonight said the idiots might be spreading to other parts of London. Are these riots in the other parts about the shooting or is it just rioting for the sake of rioting?

 

[Carol]

News here just said rioters were arrested for attempted murder of a police officer. Horrible.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[Tez3]

The radio guy tonight said the idiots might be spreading to other parts of London. Are these riots in the other parts about the shooting or is it just rioting for the sake of rioting?

I doubt the rioters know or care about protests, they are looting and rioting, pure criminality. Some are jumping on the bandwagon wringing their hands saying the poor are rising up, if that's so the 'poor' are richer than I am because I can't afford the designer clothes they are rioting in! the shops being targetted are consumer shops, electrical outlets, furniture shops etc. It's gangs helping themselves and setting fire to buildings just because they want to. Ask them about the shooting and you will get blank looks just before they hit you and steal your valuables.

The guy that was shot was being arrested for gang and drug related offences, he was carrying a gun, a police officer was injured and another had a bullet wedged in his radio after he was shot at.

 

[billc]

Do the cops at least get to use tear gas on the jerks or are they restricted in how they respond?

 

[Jenna]

I have to admit that is the most frightened I have been in a while, I have not seen riot police close up like this in Camden ever before. These rioters are nothing more than mindless criminals simply out to loot stores. This is not about a shooting, lawful or otherwise; this is not about social deprivation let alone budgetary squeezes, this is about pure greed and gratuitous criminality. The High Street is a mess. Actions of these people - and many are not youths now and but older guys orchestrating shop robberies - their actions will simply drive tourism and business away. It is frustrating. There were people on the street, shop owners and community workers trying to stop them last night and but they were busy on their BBs deciding amongst theirselves which stores to raid next. I do not know what to think or do.

 

[Razor]

These scenes will be a great advertisement for the Olympics next year.

One question for anyone who knows more, why were not enough Police deployed? From the pictures I've seen, there are sometimes about 20 standing at the end of a street and people looting and rioting in the middle, clearly without enough Police to sort it out. If 10,000 more are being deployed today, why could they not have been before?

 

[granfire]

not so different from the LA riots...

 

[Jenna]

not so different from the LA riots...

Exactly right granfire! only those had a racial flavour underpinning the start of it all, in these they have more or less foregone any underpinnings arising from the initial incident and got straight to the thieving and destruction for no reason other than recreation and a new pair of sneakers.

 

[billc]

Are the police having their hands tied by political considerations or is it some sort of breakdown in procedure?

 

[Jenna]

I would personally not have enough knowledge of police procedure to comment and but I know that I saw with my own eyes Met police look sheepish at approaching teenage looters at a phone store. Anecdotally, I have heard that because of the vast scope of the rioting, there are not enough officers with recent riot training to cope and so many are donning the riot paphernalia without proper training in its deployment. I do not know if there is validity in that.

I - and most everyone else I know here - respect the Met police and but I think the community will be the ultimate saviours of the town here and not the police as I feel they have lost their grip on order here right now. The place is a disaster zone adn olympics aside, regular people are having their livelihoods wrecked by those that do not care to work at all.

 

[billc]

Sounds like you are right in the middle of it, I hope you are safe and I hope the police get things together enough to contain these jerks. I hate when that kind of rioting happens in the states and it isn't pleasant when it happens in other places either.

 

[CoryKS]

Jenna and other MTers in the area, please stay safe.

 

[Jenna]

Sounds like you are right in the middle of it, I hope you are safe and I hope the police get things together enough to contain these jerks. I hate when that kind of rioting happens in the states and it isn't pleasant when it happens in other places either.

I hope so too Bill and thank you my friend There is a kind of an eerie and oppressive vibe around right now that I have not got since after the 7/7 bombs. I get the unavoidable impression there is going to be more trouble presently. Even local shops are closed early. My place of work is closed. I have seen riot vans here already and it is only after 3pm, goodness.

Thank you too Cory All good here Locked down tight

 

[billc]

You know, you might want to leave the area and if possible go somewhere safer. Who knows though, perhaps they have burnt themeselves out already. That kind of outrageous behavior must be hard to maintain over several days.

 

[Jenna]

Life goes on regardless http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixel-eight/6024429000/ and at some point soon this will be yesterday's news I think Sooner rather than later I hope

 

[billc]

Drudge has a link to video footage of these groups of these thugs robbing people during the riots, it makes you think that the police really need to go in hard on these jerks. There may be reasons for not showing up in force but the law enforcement posters would have to point out those reasons. Is it a fear of escalation, or are the politicians afraid of images on the news. Watching innocent people having to put up with being robbed, in broad daylight, with dozens of people around is really irritating.

 

[granfire]

Life goes on regardless http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixel-eight/6024429000/ and at some point soon this will be yesterday's news I think Sooner rather than later I hope

walk softly and carry a big cricket bat! ^_^