Time To Use American Action?
Nadine Dorries insists The Inspector Gadget blog is essential reading for anyone following the riots who really wants to know what’s happening, but be prepared to be truly scared.
9 Aug 2011, 11:00
Should we be using water cannons?
As he states, the Police don’t need the Army, they just need the order to charge themselves.
Whilst the Police are being ordered to stand still and watch, terrified residents and children are fleeing their homes. The blog tells of a female fire fighter being dragged off her bike and punched in the face on her way to tend a fire.
Sky News recounts eye witness stories of people jumping from windows to escape fire and rioters. Of mothers, with young children, grouping together on street corners not knowing where to flee for safety.
One has to ask the question, if this were Australia or America, what the Police response be?
Would it be like here, fear of Police prosecution, fear of reprisal, due to the ethnic groups involved?
Or would the riots have been stemmed at source. Would Tear gas, water cannon, dummy bullets or other Police aides have been deployed at source?
The irony is, that these riots supposedly began as result of a shooting which may well have been justified, or not. However, should this become much more serious, I would not be in the least bit surprised to hear the call for our Police to be universally armed, either in Parliament or via one of our newly popular e-petitions.
The justification will be that the riots were the tipping point. That it’s needed in order for the Police to defend themselves, and us and to impose a deterrent to would be looters and arsonists.
To keep order and control and to protect our communities. The very same communities we have seen destroyed over the last few nights. And the question is, would they be right? Do Australia and America have it right?
We can ponder this as we watch London and our major cities burn.
Comments (7)
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Nadine poses a number of very important questions that should not be glossed over in the aftermath. It is important not to blame the police as they are clearly working to a directive and framework that would be as frustrating to them as it is to to the public. In Australia the response would have been immediate and uncompromising; I mean really uncompromising and unapologetic. What really surprised me was the TV grab of Deputy PM Nick Clegg where he stated that he had come to 'listen'. I thought to myself really -what exactly are you listening to or for? Conceding that TV grabs dont always do justice to the person interviewed there was a missed opportunity for the senior political figure on the front line to reassure the innocent and victims and put the perpetrators on notice or is that nor politically correct?
09/08/2011 13:05It's a tricky subject - can a state that uses violence against the violent expect conformity or reprisal? It's very clear that people involved in these riots have no fear or respect for the police. I cannot see any way to reverse this in the current generation, so what we're left with is a police force that are seen as impotent and a target.
It is so upsetting to hear people criticise police on the front line here - these men and women are following orders and, if The Inspector Gadget blog is anything to go by, itching to dish out justice in a way that most people seem to want. They're dealing with an apathetic, greedy and self-serving generation of people who have grown up blaming everyone else for their so-called misfortunes. The government has routinely reinforced this behaviour with weak-handed policies in education and social intervention. Parents are not parents, but neither is education, nor the state as a whole. There's no sense of responsibility and a complete lack of respect for human life.
I'm not an advocate of any violent behaviour, but in this situation the police need to be seen, heard and felt by those who seek to walk all over them. Give them the rubber bullets, bring back water cannons and send a message to people everywhere that this sort of violence and destruction is not tolerated and will be met with swift and uncompromising punishment.
My thoughts go out to every service man and woman, everyone who has been affected by this wretched idiocy, and particularly the Reeves family who lost five generations of their family business in Croydon.
One can only hope someone with power will wake up soon and give this country the tools it needs to deal with these animals.
09/08/2011 13:57Shoot looters, that will an end to it.No mercy must be shown.
09/08/2011 14:23"I would not be in the least bit surprised to hear the call for our Police to be universally armed, either in Parliament or via one of our newly popular e-petitions.
The justification will be that the riots were the tipping point. That it’s needed in order for the Police to defend themselves, and us and to impose a deterrent to would be looters and arsonists."
Is this blog actually serious? It's just that I remember in "The New Statesman" B'Stard passes a private members bill to arm the police with hand guns, and even back in the 80s people realised what a stupid idea it was.
Imagine the consequences. Criminals would feel more threatened, and strive to arm themselves for protection. Criminals + more guns = more innocent people dead. The Liberals would see it as the formation of an authoritarian police state. The Libertarians would demand the right for citizens to carry arms in order to protect themselves against the state, which if successful would make it much easier for the criminals to acquire guns. And a small minority of idiotic trigger-happy policeman would misuse them and end up killing innocent people.
To be perfectly honest, I think people in London have had a bad enough couple of nights without adding gun battles in the street to the mix. Killing looters would give them the opportunity to present themselves as martyrs and inflame the situation further.
Guns are bad. The fewer there are, the better.
10/08/2011 02:57I support all law abiding citizens being able to own and carry guns as in most states of America. In spite of the popular concept of America still being like the Wild West, in fact America has a lower murder rate, per capita, than Britain.
12/08/2011 22:26In practice not that many Americans own guns, but burglaries are far lower than here simply because the criminal doesn't know whether the house owner has a gun or not. The same argument applies to small shops; there may be a gun under the counter. In states where "concealed carry" is allowed, street crime is low for the same reason, the potential mugger is not sure whether you are someone who goes to the gun club weekly and can draw your gun faster than John Wayne! Strangely, when I've been to the States, I've seen far fewer police in the cities than I would here; certainly none of the car chases we see in all the TV crime dramas.
I would hate to see armed police on the streets of the uk and i do not beieve it is necessary if they are allowed to act as they see fit in a given situation without fear of prosecution. It should be a criminal offence to attack the police puishable by mandatory prison sentence. If people have a problem with a particular police action it is open to them to make a complaint.
13/08/2011 13:39English Pensioner - the US murder rate (intentional homicide) is five times that in the UK. This is just a badly written piece that offers no solutions, just vague meanderings.
28/08/2011 23:24