Tag Archives: bobbies

Business/Economics, International

United Police Kingdom, England Burning: British Bobbies shot first, official inquiry says no evidence that father of four ever shot at police

The shot that started the riots, that have been going on since this past weekend, was fired by cops, and cops only!

The Independent Police Complaints Commission says there is no evidence that a father of four, who was shot in a taxi and killed by police, was armed or even shot at police.

The police who shot him claimed, as usual, that he shot at them first, and that a gunfight ensued, in which he was killed.  As usual the police claim self defense.

Also, at least a day ago the police claim they had recovered a “non-police” issue gun belonging to the “gang leader”.  The Independent Police Complaints Commission says that’s a bold faced lie!  The Commission found no such gun!

The Commission says the father of four was killed by one shot to the chest.  A Scotland Yard (London Met) bobbie fired two shots in total.  That sure doesn’t sound like a gun battle.  Unfortunately the investigation is being given six months to make a final report.

Maybe the poor people of Merry Old Police State England are justified?  The bobbies thought they were taking out a modern day Robin Hood, now there are thousands of Robin Hoods swarming the streets!

International

Reports show that you can not trust a British bobby

Recently British Home Secretary Theresa May said they “…trust the police.” But several reports say otherwise.

A report by the Howard League of Penal Reform shows that 278,000 children under the age of 18 were arrested in 2009.  Of that 5,176 ended up in juvenile prison.  The report condemned the British bobbies for “…excessive and inappropriate use of arrest for children.”

Why arrest so many kids?  The report suggests that since Police Commissioners are elected, they go after the easy to arrest youth, because then Police Commissioners can run for election on the grounds that they have high arrest records.

In another scandal, the London Times reports that an average of 160 British bobbies lose their jobs for breaking the law, every year.  The law violations include everything from carrying their gun while drunk to assault and tampering with evidence.

In the past three years, 477 bobbies were fired or forced to quit, hundreds were fined, and 52 demoted.

The reports come at a time when the British government is considering giving police the authority of prosecutors.

International

British bobbies (police) could have the power to charge, just skip arrest go directly to jail

In a move to save government money, some British officials want to put the power of the courts in the hands of the police.

British Home Secretary Theresa May,  says the plan could save the U.K. 2.5 million hours of bobby time, equating to huge savings of money for the government.  The way she wants to do that is to allow bobbies to skip the patrolling, detaining and arresting phase of police work, and allow the cops to simply charge the suspects, like a hybrid police/prosecutor.

It would apply to minor offenses, but the radical changes go beyond allowing police to act as street prosecutor.  Anybody wanting to file a complaint about the legal system would have to deal directly with a bobby.  The intent of forcing people to deal directly with police, with legal issues, is to reduce court costs for the government. May admits this would put a lot more power with the police, and is a definite move towards a police state: “We will take a different approach, we will trust the police.”

Officials with the British Shadow government  (yes, such a thing, aka Shadow Cabinet or Shadow Front Bench) say this will not only put a lot more power in police hands, but with a lot less police officers.  Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (May’s counterpart) says that May plans to fire thousands of bobbies under the police/prosecutor plan.  The result of giving police the power to act as prosecutor, and then cutting police staff, will greatly increase the work load of the bobby.  Cooper says this will act as a double whamming for security; people will feel even more threatened by the power of police, and and the cops will be stretched thin.