Ploiceman chucks annoying kid in a bin - Good on yer!

[diving_moose]

Well i agree with the Diva's comments, on this one,
So go ahead Chris shoot me down.

Thank you kind sir.

Corinne

[louigi]

Pitty there aint a few more like him about. That cop gets my vote every time.

[ahar]

Hmm, must learn to check the spelling on thread titles as they are difficult to edit later....

Having seen the video taken from the mobile phone, I still support the Policeman. The approximate events as I remember them from the mobile phone footage:

Policeman comes towards group of kids chucking conkers at passers by. Group of kids stop and act as though noting was hapening. Policemen start talking to kids, trying to find out who did what. Kid in question (about 15) is asked his name by policeman and gives a torrent of abuse. Policeman continues to talk to kid, who continues abuse and starts to taunt policeman, asking 'what are ou going to do about it'. Kid says 'what are you going to do, throw me in the bin?'. All kids from group are hanging around and laughing. Policeman picks kid up over his shouldr and places him in one of the bins (the small round ones, kid is standing in bin up to his thighs). Kid steps out of bin, stops laughing. Other kids laugh at him.

What would have been better - to arrest the kid, mess around and have the charges dropped, at which point the kid would be encouraged as he believes that he can get away with it? Or the policeman taking action to embarrass the kid - the one thing that will have impact?

Policing this kind of low level antisocial behaviour is the hardest nut to crack - the offences on their own seem trivial but they build up over time, having a real impact on the people who live in the area. Current measures don't seem to work in the worst cases - other things have to be tried. Watching an interview with the kid and his Dad, there didn't seem to be any acknowledgement of the reasons why the kid was being talked to by the Policeman - with Parents like that, how do you stop kids like that from being antisocial?

[dry suit diver]

it looks like the police are returning to the way policing should be done, a clip round the ear and then sent home to face the wrath of parents etc.


there have been too many do gooders making the criminals the aggreived party and the innocent victim the bad guy.

Yes the Met has a lot to answer for , but a lot of what it does (99%) is bang on.

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by ahar

What would have been better - to arrest the kid, mess around and have the charges dropped, at which point the kid would be encouraged as he believes that he can get away with it? Or the policeman taking action to embarrass the kid - the one thing that will have impact?

A difficult question. (I have not seen the video BTW). The advantage of taking the lad in (whether he is "arrested" or not, even charged or not) is that a record of the event is made. Do the police not "caution" people anymore?? Doing something "on the spot" and unrecorded does not give a picture of the person's behaviour over time.

However, I am broadly in agreement that embarassing the kid will have more effect than the current judicial system which is somewhat ineffective at tackling this problem.

BUT. To all you that would like the law to change - it is the way it is. Like it or not the copper was in the wrong. Period. Therefore the kid learns that you taunt a policeman, he over-reacts and you get to sue the police for loads of cash...... The law as it stands is to protect you and I from police who take the law into their own hands and quite rightly so. I'm sorry but that does sometimes means that what might appear commonsense to some folks is not available to the police. Its just the price we must pay.

Originally Posted by ahar

Policing this kind of low level antisocial behaviour is the hardest nut to crack - the offences on their own seem trivial but they build up over time, having a real impact on the people who live in the area. Current measures don't seem to work....

Very true. Believe it or not I do understand the frustration of everyone else on the thread......

Chris

[londonsean69]

Originally Posted by chrisch

But as you say something else entirely and not what I had meant to refer to and totally OT.

You were actually the one who brought it up, and should have made it clear whether you meant brazillian police shooting street kids (out of order) or brazillians getting shot in London.

Originally Posted by chrisch

I simply wanted to express incredulity that a parent would approve of a policeman assaulting their kid. (Like Brazilian police shooting street kids - hence the reference).

You make it sound soo serious.
I suppose, he could have got arrested, charged, convicted, sentenced, and then had to declare that on all job applications in future.
Net result, won´t get a job and will be a burden to society, turning to proper crime to feed the drug habit he will pick up after being moved onto some hell hole of an estate, with all the other people who got a record, instead of a clip round the ear.
And guess what, it´s YOUR taxes that will pay for it (not mine, I live in a tax haven!!)

Originally Posted by chrisch

If any of you think this copper's actions are the solution then you are the problem.

Oh well, looks like I (and several others) have a problem.
Funny, I never thought my problem with authority would actually be wanting to side with the police, but then again, I am getting old.

[Hippychris]

it all started going wrong when they stopped us sending kids up chimneys and down pits...

now when I was a lad.....

Good on the copper I say, a bit more of that sort of treatment and there would be a few less of them hanging around making others lives a misery.... bring back keel hauling

[darthmoll]

Originally Posted by chrisch

Sure. Yeah. Like why not shoot them like the Brazilian cops?

Chris

why not, it would stop them being little tw@ts, and their pals would get the message too, but i think a good birching would sort a lot of this stuff out, it seemed to work in the isle of man.