BS: Police Brutality

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: Owen Woodson
Date: 12 May 12 - 03:38 PM

Al, come off it. Benefit of the doubt? The assault took place in full view of the CCTV cameras and was carried out on a suspect who complained of being seriously ill, and looked it. All the guy had done was to ask for a chair for God's sake.

I don't know what he did to be arrested, but I do know there are rules and procedures, and these are in no way negated by the fact that he was under arrest. What's more, these officers are sworn to uphold the law and yet they nearly wrenched the poor bloke's arm off.

On top of that, I was left with the feeling that the officers in the clip regarded this brutal treatment as a normal operational way of treating their suspects. Note the matter of fact tone when the interview re-started.

Megan. I agree. I refuse point blank to condemn every single police officer on the grounds of incidents such as this. But if you were a decent honest copper who habitually made a point of abiding by the rule book and treating suspects fairly, would you seriously want to work with this sort of scum?

And that's before we even begin to consider the 333 people who died in police custody in the first decade of this country, without a single charge being brought against a single police officer.

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: Leadfingers
Date: 12 May 12 - 03:05 PM

I was once tailgated late at night (FULL headlights too)- by a young policeman showing off to a police woman him in the car . He apparently wanted me to exceed the speed limit , so he coukd book me

This has NOT resulted in me calling ALL police drivers Bloody Fools , though that is obviously what that one was , especially as he entered private property without asking permission , and trying to browbeat me .

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: BrendanB
Date: 12 May 12 - 02:30 PM

This video was the centre of the main news story in the North East regional news last night, the perpetrators were also filmed leaving court having been fined. They are employed by Durham Constabulary. In spite of the case going to court and the guilty verdict, thay have not even been suspended, let alone sacked. they may be a couple of bad apples but it appears that Durham Police see little wrong with their actions. I agree with Megan in principle but this seems to be an organisational rather than an individual problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 12 May 12 - 02:19 PM

It was an obviously brutal armhold put on a person not in any way resisting and for no obvious reason. I would have expected it to have broken the arm or dislocated a joint.

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 12 May 12 - 02:16 PM

'pussy cats'
You have a filmed example of pussy-cats; a thuggish desk sergeant assaulting an obviously incapacitated prisoner while a station full of (presumably equally thuggish) collegues stand by and let it happen.
We all have our stories.
I had a friend who moved from being a village bobby up North to join the Met - he gave it up and became a social worker when he was introduced to the Saturday night 'entertainment' of rounding up (mainly homeless) drunks, putting them in a cell and slapping them round, then dousing them with cold water before letting them go.
When we were working with Travellers we regularly witnessed spot searches of the caravans - the 'dawn raids' were a little to early for us to have seen them, but we did on a number of occasions see the wreckage left behind.
The 14 year old son of one family we knew was 'arrested' in London on suspicion' of having taken part in a burglary, driven to Birmingham to be identified and released without charge and left to make his way back to his family.
Now where did I put that saucer of milk??
If the police are to be trusted with the rights society has given them their behaviour has to be impeccable, otherwise they are no better than the criminals they are supposed to protect us from.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: gnu
Date: 12 May 12 - 01:57 PM

The vid won't load for me but I am with Megan in any case.

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 12 May 12 - 01:47 PM

I dealt with dozens of prisoners while visiting, and while I have no experience of the Met, many of the other Forces around the country were said by the inmates to be 'pussy cats' and more daft than cruel. I knew very well the Norfolk Police in all their glory, and they were in my view, far too tolerant and kind! One inmate in particular had so many encounters with them he was like an adopted son. When he arrived in their Custody Suite, they put the kettle on for him and gave him a few cigarettes. This did nothing to discourage him from a life dedicated to burglary, and he was sometimes violent towards the officers, but they were absolutley avuncular with him, the little horror. He spat and bit (he had Hep B) but they never raised a hand to him. I admired them very much.

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: Stringsinger
Date: 12 May 12 - 11:55 AM

The problem is that policing is not being separated from military behavior.
Policing focuses on the criminal, wars inflict damage on the innocent as well as the perpetrators.

Bloomberg doesn't understand this very well.

The Occupy Movement does.

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 12 May 12 - 11:17 AM

"Why must we throw blankets over groups of people:"
Because these particular ones have rights which the rest of us don't, in our society - to arrest and detain on suspicion, to enter our homes, to search us on spec... and to investigate themselves when we complain.
At the time of the Lawrence killing an independant enquiry found the police to be "insitutionally racist" - back in the good old days when when "police called women slags and black people wogs" (a recent quote) - the result being that five known killers escaped justice.
One of the horrifying things about the clip (now mysteriously unavailable!!) is that in a presumably working police station, nobody is taking the slightest notice of the screams - everyday occurence maybe (the sarge must be dealing with a customer; bit of a lad that sarge!!!
"If he's a priest he must be a peadophile"
Clerical abuse, sexual and violent assault, now claimed to have been going on for at least a century, was facilitated by an, at best, indifferent and now shown to have been a fully involved church heirarchy, in covering up these apalling crimes and allowing the perps to escape and go on abusing, making leading church members as far up as the Vatican accomplices in child rape. It is not only the abusive priests that were to blame, but the church as a whole that was found to be wanting and it is apallingly dismissive to pass this off as "bad apples".
The same applies to the bankers who have brought the world to its financial knees with their corporate greed.
In all these cases, it is the institutions that allow these things to happen that need repairing.
Take your point about the tiny handful of abusive Muslims though.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: GUEST,999
Date: 12 May 12 - 11:14 AM

My mistake. The case is a little over a year old. My apologies.

The Daily Mail carried the story yesterday. The officers have been fined, and further stuff is likely to happen to them for their behaviour in this incident. The Crown Prosecution Service is into it now. fyi

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: GUEST,999
Date: 12 May 12 - 10:58 AM

That video is not new. It is in fact years old. Doesn't diminish its impact, however.

Has anyone done a search to see what happened to the police officers involved?

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 12 May 12 - 10:16 AM

Good thinking Megan.

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: GUEST,Ian Mather sans cookie
Date: 12 May 12 - 09:54 AM

Yo Megan!

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: Leadfingers
Date: 12 May 12 - 09:02 AM

Well Said Megan

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: Megan L
Date: 12 May 12 - 08:54 AM

Why must we throw blankets over groups of people:

If hes a priest he must be a peadophile
If hes a policeman he must be brutal
If hes a banker he must be corupt
If hes a muslim he must be a terrorist

NO NO NO If there is a bad apple in the barrel blame the bad apple and weed it out dont say all apples are bad.

It is the blanket mentality that allows genocides and general cruelty to happen

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: Stu
Date: 12 May 12 - 08:48 AM

They do what they want. Kill people and get away with it, kettle people, deny them basic human rights like water or a piss, beat them up etc and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. Call one a twat however, and he'll have you up before the beak before you know what's happening. They are a paramilitary organisation there to enforce the will of the ruling elite

Corruption, racism etc etc. Right up the arse of Murdoch et al. Here's the thing: they have the power over us, we can't do anything about it. Our word against theirs - they will win. So I try to avoid having as little to do with them as possible. When I've needed help as a victim of crime they've been anything from rude-disinterested-going through the motions. Of course there are good coppers I don't doubt, but they aren't in charge. I've found them intimidating, threatening and demanding of a respect that needs to be earned, not given because of a badge.

They need to understand they are supposed to be serving the whole of society, and treat people accordingly.

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 12 May 12 - 08:26 AM

I'd give the cops the benefit of the doubt. Shit job, they have to do. Quite difficult to know how to proceed. So easy to tell another man how to do a difficult job.

what was actually wrong with the bloke?

Subject: RE: BS: Police Brutality
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 May 12 - 08:24 AM

If you tink police brutality ANYWHERE is a myth or a thing of the past you're not dwelling in reality.

Subject: BS: Police Brutality
From: Owen Woodson
Date: 12 May 12 - 07:57 AM

If you believe that police brutality in Brtain is amyth or a thing of the past, take a look at this .