Police

[Twerto]

G20 police assault

 

Taken from the Guardian, surely if this was a member of the public that attacked like this it would be manslaughter?

[nederlander]

Just seen that. Utterly hellish. The type of behaviour you may expect from a gang of neds hellbent on causing trouble. Is there anything more the poor man could have done bar running? Even then, you certainly wouldn't expect to have to run from the police when all you are doing is walking home. An unprovoked attack and the officer concerned should be punished as anyone else would be.

[Styumpie]

Gordons finest bullyboys at it again I see.

 

We have to remember, they are nothing more than servants of the state, state employed fine collectors, violence the weapon of choice.

[Guest Anonymous]

It's a shame that every time something like this happens, people try to blacken the name of the entire police force.

The police are like any other group of human beings. There will always be a percentage of them who fail to live up to the standards required of that group, and a very small percentage who fail to live up to the title "human".

The officer in the video should be dealt with by the full measure of the law. But it is unfair to tarnish the reputation of the police in general as a result of his actions.

Methinks the members of this forum only ever mention the police when a single officer has done something wrong, and that I see as being unfair to the majority of officers whom we rely on to uphold law and order.

[TeeAyBee]

^^^ I'm with you Rasmie. There are a few bad apples in the Police, just like there are a few bad apples in pretty much any and every profession. Spare a thought for the coppers who stood and shielded the fallen man while the bad apples in the protesters group threw bottles.

 

Funny how many axes in need of a grinding come out after events like this.

[KOYAANISQATSI]

Yeah; but it would be a rare thing to see the rest of the blue line jump in to get the cuffs on the officer who commits the assault.

[TeeAyBee]

G20 police assault

 

Taken from the Guardian, surely if this was a member of the public that attacked like this it would be manslaughter?

 

If a direct link between the assault and the man's heart attack could be proved then absolutely yes. If such a link is proved then the officer who pushed him should be brought up on those charges. In any event it seems from what we've seen on the video clip that this is an unprovoked assault on the part of the individual officer, and as such needs to be addressed within the law. The law applies to us all and should be seen to be so.

 

This appears to be an isolated incident and if there were more I'm certain that the video and stills of such events would already have been seen on the worlds' media.

[JustMe]

Sadly there is an element within the police force who have forgotten that they are meant to obey the law as well as enforce it. I guess that there have always been policemen who took bribes to turn a blind eye while others were quite prepared to lie under oath about a suspect they believed was guilty but did not have enough evidence to convince a court.

 

What seems to be newer is that some sections of the police are quite prepared to act as thugs against people exercising a legitimate right of protest. To me this seems to have started with the miners strike and now seems to have spread to public protests. I believe that I have a right to protest in a peaceful manner (meaning not violent rather than silent) and equally I have a right to decide to leave a protest when I choose and that the police are eroding those rights.

 

To me this seems very much like the UK is becoming some sort of totalitarian state with the police in danger of being regarded more as a public enemy than people to turn to for help. We must not let this happen.

[Styumpie]

If we are not critical of their behaviour, they end up a law unto themselves, which is ever more self evident. If we are to remain a civilised society, our police force must be civilised too, they should be a prime example for the rest of us in terms of honesty, integrity and fairness. Officers who abuse their powers to massage their ego, or hit government targets etc should be sacked and sent to prison, but no.. they usually seem to stick up for one another, therein lies the problem.

 

It takes a certain 'type' of personality to join the police force, to protect and serve is not always the motivation.

[Styumpie]

Yeah; but it would be a rare thing to see the rest of the blue line jump in to get the cuffs on the officer who commits the assault. Confused

 

+1

[MaxFusion]

Yeah; but it would be a rare thing to see the rest of the blue line jump in to get the cuffs on the officer who commits the assault. Confused

 

+1

I was wondering the very same myself, if that had been a civilian commiting the assault the "blue line" would have had him pinned down and cuffed. None of them reacted to their fellow officer's unprovoked attack there, why?

[Evil Inky]

I was wondering the very same myself, if that had been a civilian commiting the assault the "blue line" would have had him pinned down and cuffed. None of them reacted to their fellow officer's unprovoked attack there, why?

As far as I am concerned this is the real problem. While it appears only a small minority of police are willing to make unprovoked attacks on passers-by, there seem to be many more who are willing to turn a blind eye when one of their fellow officers fancies giving someone a beating.

[nederlander]

The officer in the video should be dealt with by the full measure of the law. But it is unfair to tarnish the reputation of the police in general as a result of his actions.

 

Couldn't agree more Auld Een.

 

Yeah; but it would be a rare thing to see the rest of the blue line jump in to get the cuffs on the officer who commits the assault. Confused

 

+1

I was wondering the very same myself, if that had been a civilian commiting the assault the "blue line" would have had him pinned down and cuffed. None of them reacted to their fellow officer's unprovoked attack there, why?

 

I would imagine that they have to show some sort of unified front. Which to me makes perfect sense. Can you imagine the sheer confusion if, say, two of the officers had broken this front and cuffed their fellow policeman? What would the rest of them do? What if the policeman in question was a superior to those around him?

[MaxFusion]

I hear what you're saying Netherlander, looking at the rest of them in the clip I don't suppose he was the highest ranking officer there but it was the fact none of them showed any reaction to what happened. I wouldn't expect them to break ranks and cuff him either but no reaction at all? not even an order to restrain himself?

[Styumpie]

I would expect them to restrain the man and cuff him immediately, read him his rights and be put under arrest. He committed an assault on an innocent man, which led to death, there is no excuse for turning a blind eye to what he did. All the officers that were present there should be arrested, sacked and punished for condoning an unprovoked attack which in turn led to his death.