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[Entwood]

I find it somewhat interesting that the Press, and others, are blaming "The Police" or "The Met" ( as in the thread title) .. but actually the fault was with "the person" who did this ... he over-reacted .. all on his own ..

"The Police", "The Met" and even "The Government" do not exist as cogent bodies. They are run, manned and peopled by human beings, all of whom make mistakes, and should be individually held reponsible instead of hiding behind "corporate speak" and "sound bites"

But I suppose "Joe Bloggs PC99 Caught out" does not have the same dramatic ring as "The Met Caught Out" ... despite the lack of truth .. but truth rarely matters these days ..

[Andy B]

I find it somewhat interesting that the Press, and others, are blaming "The Police" or "The Met" ( as in the thread title) .. but actually the fault was with "the person" who did this ... he over-reacted .. all on his own ..

"The Police", "The Met" and even "The Government" do not exist as cogent bodies. They are run, manned and peopled by human beings, all of whom make mistakes, and should be individually held reponsible instead of hiding behind "corporate speak" and "sound bites"

But I suppose "Joe Bloggs PC99 Caught out" does not have the same dramatic ring as "The Met Caught Out" ... despite the lack of truth .. but truth rarely matters these days ..

But when you were in the RAF you were not an individual ..... you were part of what the Senior Service   would have refered to as the Mob. A common charge for the pi$$ heads was 'bringing the Navy into disrepute'. You can't be a 'team' as and when it suits. All for 1 & 1 for all etc etc

[Turk]

Not so sure about "fair play to him".  He knew as soon as it had happened that he was in the wrong.
There is footage of the uniformed thug lurking in the background, watching as the man he floored walked away. The thug then approaches a senior officer.
Yep, he knew he'd messed up....just didn't know how badly at that time. The net was closing and I suspect he was "advised" to come forward, otherwise he'd have remained hidden behind the "blue curtain".
There is no excuse for his actions and The Met knows this. There are several independent video clips of him hitting the man, whose hands were in his pockets, behind the legs with a batton and when he didn't drop, he shoved him to the ground and retreated.

I'm not anti-police, they have a tough job at times, but this sort of thing is un-acceptable and The Met cannot be allowed to brush it under the carpet.

[Chris_H]

Not so sure about "fair play to him".  He knew as soon as it had happened that he was in the wrong.
There is footage of the uniformed thug lurking in the background, watching as the man he floored walked away. The thug then approaches a senior officer.
Yep, he knew he'd messed up....just didn't know how badly at that time. The net was closing and I suspect he was "advised" to come forward, otherwise he'd have remained hidden behind the "blue curtain".
There is no excuse for his actions and The Met knows this. There are several independent video clips of him hitting the man, whose hands were in his pockets, behind the legs with a batton and when he didn't drop, he shoved him to the ground and retreated.

I'm not anti-police, they have a tough job at times, but this sort of thing is un-acceptable and The Met cannot be allowed to brush it under the carpet.

What do you mean not anti-police?

Look up 'prejudice' in the dictionary!

[Turk]

Ok...not as a rule.  
When I had my car slightly side swiped outside my house, I called plod just to report it and get an incident number for any insurance claim. They said they'd send someone over and fair play, they were with me within 10 mins and went knocking on every door, asking if anyone had seen or heard anything. Same again when I had my rear window shattered, they were with me within 5 mins.

A family argument had spilt out on to my street at gone 1am. Not violent, but quite heated. Two guys arguing, and seeing as a female was trying to calm it down, I took no chances and phoned it in. Within 2 minutes there was a Plodmobile on the scene and a couple of minutes later another two cars arrived.
No complaints about plod in my area:y, but when they mess up big time and say nothing until it's all over the news and they have no choice but to act...  

[greenster918]

I cannot believe some peoples attitude to this and how quick they are to slag off  "the filth" as they so nicely put it.

I do think the police officer involved was ott in how hard he pushed the man, but you're all naieve to think he was just innocently walking past.
As mentioned in an earlier comment, no demo's are peaceful, there are always the minority that come with the sole intent to cause trouble. As for the "masks" the police thugs were wearing..they are public order issue, standard dress and flame retardent because yes some people through petrol bombs at police but obviously thats ok.

Its was also nicely skirted over by the media that only minutes before this incident 4 police officers were attacked by a large group of "peaceful demonstrators". Once again this seems to be acceptable in some pepoles eyes, thats thier job after all.

I'm not defending the officer in question and yes i think his actions need to be investigated but the level of predjudice shown is staggering.

[HolyCount]

I cannot believe some peoples attitude to this and how quick they are to slag off  "the filth" as they so nicely put it.

I do think the police officer involved was ott in how hard he pushed the man, but you're all naieve to think he was just innocently walking past.
As mentioned in an earlier comment, no demo's are peaceful, there are always the minority that come with the sole intent to cause trouble. As for the "masks" the police thugs were wearing..they are public order issue, standard dress and flame retardent because yes some people through petrol bombs at police but obviously thats ok.

Its was also nicely skirted over by the media that only minutes before this incident 4 police officers were attacked by a large group of "peaceful demonstrators". Once again this seems to be acceptable in some pepoles eyes, thats thier job after all.

I'm not defending the officer in question and yes i think his actions need to be investigated but the level of predjudice shown is staggering.

I have, purposefully, kept out of this arguement so far, but must agree with Greenster.

None of us were there ( were we??)  and none of us know exactly what happened, before, after or during the incident.

Yes, the Police do tend to close ranks when trouble brews ... as do the Medical Profession, the Armed Services, the Government, the Local Pikies, the Asbo Family down the road, and practically every family in the country would too, when in trouble.

[Turk]

I cannot believe some peoples attitude to this and how quick they are to slag off  "the filth" as they so nicely put it.

I do think the police officer involved was ott in how hard he pushed the man, but you're all naieve to think he was just innocently walking past.
As mentioned in an earlier comment, no demo's are peaceful, there are always the minority that come with the sole intent to cause trouble. As for the "masks" the police thugs were wearing..they are public order issue, standard dress and flame retardent because yes some people through petrol bombs at police but obviously thats ok.

Its was also nicely skirted over by the media that only minutes before this incident 4 police officers were attacked by a large group of "peaceful demonstrators". Once again this seems to be acceptable in some pepoles eyes, thats thier job after all.

I'm not defending the officer in question and yes i think his actions need to be investigated but the level of predjudice shown is staggering.

I have, purposefully, kept out of this arguement so far, but must agree with Greenster.

None of us were there ( were we??)  and none of us know exactly what happened, before, after or during the incident.

Yes, the Police do tend to close ranks when trouble brews ... as do the Medical Profession, the Armed Services, the Government, the Local Pikies, the Asbo Family down the road, and practically every family in the country would too, when in trouble.

Yep, that about sums it up

[Turk]

I cannot believe some peoples attitude to this and how quick they are to slag off  "the filth" as they so nicely put it.

I do think the police officer involved was ott in how hard he pushed the man, but you're all naieve to think he was just innocently walking past. As mentioned in an earlier comment, no demo's are peaceful, there are always the minority that come with the sole intent to cause trouble. As for the "masks" the police thugs were wearing..they are public order issue, standard dress and flame retardent because yes some people through petrol bombs at police but obviously thats ok.

Its was also nicely skirted over by the media that only minutes before this incident 4 police officers were attacked by a large group of "peaceful demonstrators". Once again this seems to be acceptable in some pepoles eyes, thats thier job after all.

I'm not defending the officer in question and yes i think his actions need to be investigated but the level of predjudice shown is staggering.

What ??  If someone had been waving a banner and shouting at the top of his voice...it is his right to peacefully (as in non-violently) protest, or in the dead mans case, walk home from work, with his hands in his pockets.

As for masks being standard issue...why were there only a couple of officers wearing these "standard issue" safety items.  
I think you need to re-asses who is naive.  

[HolyCount]

I cannot believe some peoples attitude to this and how quick they are to slag off  "the filth" as they so nicely put it.

I do think the police officer involved was ott in how hard he pushed the man, but you're all naieve to think he was just innocently walking past. As mentioned in an earlier comment, no demo's are peaceful, there are always the minority that come with the sole intent to cause trouble. As for the "masks" the police thugs were wearing..they are public order issue, standard dress and flame retardent because yes some people through petrol bombs at police but obviously thats ok.

Its was also nicely skirted over by the media that only minutes before this incident 4 police officers were attacked by a large group of "peaceful demonstrators". Once again this seems to be acceptable in some pepoles eyes, thats thier job after all.

I'm not defending the officer in question and yes i think his actions need to be investigated but the level of predjudice shown is staggering.

What ??  If someone had been waving a banner and shouting at the top of his voice...it is his right to peacefully (as in non-violently) protest, or in the dead mans case, walk home from work, with his hands in his pockets.

As for masks being standard issue...why were there only a couple of officers wearing these "standard issue" safety items.  
I think you need to re-asses who is naive.  

Just out of curiosity, and playing Devil's Advocate here ....... how many people reading this thread would casually walk through what amounted to a "war zone", let alone saunter along with your hands in your pockets ?

I am not commenting on the rights or wrongs of what happened -- but a certain amount of culpability does rest with the guy who died.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

I cannot believe some peoples attitude to this and how quick they are to slag off  "the filth" as they so nicely put it.

I do think the police officer involved was ott in how hard he pushed the man, but you're all naieve to think he was just innocently walking past. As mentioned in an earlier comment, no demo's are peaceful, there are always the minority that come with the sole intent to cause trouble. As for the "masks" the police thugs were wearing..they are public order issue, standard dress and flame retardent because yes some people through petrol bombs at police but obviously thats ok.

Its was also nicely skirted over by the media that only minutes before this incident 4 police officers were attacked by a large group of "peaceful demonstrators". Once again this seems to be acceptable in some pepoles eyes, thats thier job after all.

I'm not defending the officer in question and yes i think his actions need to be investigated but the level of predjudice shown is staggering.

What ??  If someone had been waving a banner and shouting at the top of his voice...it is his right to peacefully (as in non-violently) protest, or in the dead mans case, walk home from work, with his hands in his pockets.

As for masks being standard issue...why were there only a couple of officers wearing these "standard issue" safety items.  
I think you need to re-asses who is naive.  

Just out of curiosity, and playing Devil's Advocate here ....... how many people reading this thread would casually walk through what amounted to a "war zone", let alone saunter along with your hands in your pockets ?

I am not commenting on the rights or wrongs of what happened -- but a certain amount of culpability does rest with the guy who died.

Exactly HC, and I stated as much in my earlier posting:

"To me the guy is, with hands in pockets, walking very slowly, showing every sign of goading the police by a stance that seems to suggest "you want me to move on, then make me!"

Just my opinion if I had been behind the police lines.

[stuart30]

How many people here have been arrested...out of them how many of us had a nice officer...how many had a ""Im ARD coz i is a copper"".

Police officers have various faces...the nice friendly chap you nod too on the way too work can be the biggest arsehole when he feels you've done something wrong...the Innocent till proven guilty soon goes out of the window.

Kick him out of the force and let the SUN and News of the world type papers at him...

[Turk]

Ok, let's say the man (Ian Tomlinson) was making a slow, hands in pocket, protest walk. The officer wasn't trying to move him on. He struck him behind the knees with a batton in an attempt to bring him down and when that didn't bring him to the ground he pushed him hard, like a playground bully and backed away.
That is the behaviour of a man that has lost control.  
    

[albitz]

Apparently the bloke was wearing a Millwall T-shirt,maybe that is seen as subversive in some quarters and justification in itself.
As I understand it he was being a bit beligerent because he just wanted to get home to the hostel he was staying at,as he had finished his days work,but was getting a bit frustrated at his routes out of the area being blocked,so maybe thats why he was walking slowly etc,
Whatever the reason it is imo pointless trying to defend the plod who attacked him,there is no justification for the police to behave in this way unless the person concerned is in all probability going to cause a genuine and serious risk to the general public,which this bloke obviously wasnt.
I am not one to routinely knock the police,it is no joke doing their job in that type of situation,but SOME of them seem to lose sight of the fact that they are public servants and that is something which imo needs to be curtailed whenever possible.I think this particular cop should have the book thrown at him because he deserves it and it will help send a message to others with his attitude that it is unacceptable.

[Vamps]

Apparently the bloke was wearing a Millwall T-shirt,maybe that is seen as subversive in some quarters and justification in itself.
As I understand it he was being a bit beligerent because he just wanted to get home to the hostel he was staying at,as he had finished his days work,but was getting a bit frustrated at his routes out of the area being blocked,so maybe thats why he was walking slowly etc,
Whatever the reason it is imo pointless trying to defend the plod who attacked him,there is no justification for the police to behave in this way unless the person concerned is in all probability going to cause a genuine and serious risk to the general public,which this bloke obviously wasnt.
I am not one to routinely knock the police,it is no joke doing their job in that type of situation,but SOME of them seem to lose sight of the fact that they are public servants and that is something which imo needs to be curtailed whenever possible.I think this particular cop should have the book thrown at him because he deserves it and it will help send a message to others with his attitude that it is unacceptable.

[/highlight]

Even in the Police, as with any other Job/Profession there will be the odd ars* ole, surly that is what we have here. a bad apple.