Police are going to be equipped with water cannons in uk

[creepingfear]

Big *albatross* testicles like Charles Ramsey's neighbour:

 

[Habakure]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10058000/Police-being-trained-to-use-water-cannon-ahead-of-potential-summer-clashes.html

 

Police are being 'secretly' trained to use the cannons... this gets more absurd by the day.

Dress them as firemen and train at an airport.

[Scuffer]

Firstly, this is nothing new.  The MET had a number of water cannons in the past, they were used for training then never deployed and got left to rust away.

 

Secondly, these are used routinely in NI.  Officers from the mainland who are going over to support the G8 policing operation are getting familarization training so they know how to work along side them if they are deployed while over there.

 

On the back of that the MET have asked for three to satify any future need within the mainland UK.  It's no secret that another summer of discontent is expected within the next 5 years so where's the harm in training and preparing for it.  We learn from mistakes, not doing so would be exposing officers and the public to unacceptable levels of risk in future inicidents.

[Baddbaz]

So why the pro active media aproach then ?

[Scuffer]

Because the Daily Mail and Guardian love a good anti-Police headline. 

 

It sells, the Police are an easy target at the moment and lack the support to offer a defence/justification to the stories... and finally, people believe it and work the scantest of details into some massive conspiracy theory.

[Baddbaz]

The lack of respect for the police comes from successive goverments changing their role to revenue collectors rather than law enforcers . . A lot of people see them in the same light as a traffic warden or bailiff . As this is usually the general publics only contact with them . Maybe a change of priority s is required . Gone are the days off a telling off or warning from a police officer for minor offences and in with spot fines etc .

Also a lot of offences are now ignored and downgraded .

Recent ones include cautions issued for burglary , shoplifting , assault etc even though a solid case exists .

Priority seems to be all the revenue raising offences however minor they may be ..

[Baddbaz]

Double post

[Scuffer]

The lack of respect for the police comes from successive goverments changing their role to revenue collectors rather than law enforcers . . A lot of people see them in the same light as a traffic warden or bailiff . As this is usually the general publics only contact with them . Maybe a change of priority s is required . Gone are the days off a telling off or warning from a police officer for minor offences and in with spot fines etc .

Also a lot of offences are now ignored and downgraded .

Recent ones include cautions issued for burglary , shoplifting , assault etc even though a solid case exists .

Priority seems to be all the revenue raising offences however minor they may be ..

 

Unfortunately posts like yours just highlight a common lack of understanding of the political and judicial system under which you live.

 

It is the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that deal with the charging of offenders for those type of offences, unless it is truely low level in which case the Police may issue fixed fines.  It will be down the the CPS not the Police to say whether a 'solid case' truely exists, it's the flaws within the CPS processes and decision making that mean offenders get away.

 

Do you think that officers enjoy catching a blatant criminal, spending (atleast) 4-8 hours work (will run into the days/weeks for decent jobs) on the investigation/interviewing/case file assembly only to ring the CPS and be told that because the offender hasn't gone guilty so far they lack the funds, time and inclination to charge and put the person infront of a court.  So instead see if they'll have a caution/fixed penalty notice (that they'll never pay)/or some other woeful 'punishment'.

 

Waste of time.

[Baddbaz]

As I said its the goverments policy's on policing that have put the police In the position they are in . Be it cps . Goverment .or police chiefs deciding policy's , something needs to change drastically

[SwatMP5man]

As I said its the goverments policy's on policing that have put the police In the position they are in . Be it cps . Goverment .or police chiefs deciding policy's , something needs to change drastically

 

But the change doesn't need to be made within the police. The CPS and courts need a kick up the backside to ensure they charge more offenders rather than offering cautions/fines and the courts for sentencing criminals to proper sentences, if you took the 15% of frequent criminals and locked them, crime would like fall by about 50-60%. Prison is the only way to stop criminals committing crime, if you want to rehabilitate them, keep them in prison until they can prove they can make it without reoffending.

 

On the topic of water cannon, nothing new, couple of pics in the Daily Mail about some bobbies getting training at a 'secret' Army base, that just so happens to be not so secret that the public can get close enough to take pictures? As Scuffer says, more training for officers off to the G8 so they know what to do if they're used over there. Personally, if it came down to riots back over here, I'd rather have a couple of people trained in using rubber bullets than water cannon.

[Habakure]

This is my experience. Not enough evidence so the cps tell the police no. We're not going to spend money on a case where the accused will get off, due to lack of evidence. Happened to my cousin and the reason the little *suitcase* got off, was due to the police. The way they arrested him and how he was treated whilst being detained. So some times the cps, is 't the bad guy, they're just given a poor case by the police.

 

You know what the problem is, money. The government try to save money, we moan. They spend money, we moan. The cps always seems to get a bad rep but several cases have been grown out of court due to wrongful arrests, when a caution should have been issued. Then of course there is the other side, where the police have too much paper work and the cps are too demanding. Sometimes, they're both as bad as each other (be a member of the jury and you'll see cases that should never have gone to court), but the police are treated like *suitcase* by the government and that needs to change. Like any organisation or force, you have bad eggs who ruin it for everyone else.

 

Water cannons, if used properly, can be vey effective. Rubber bullets, no. Would rather have the water cannon tbh.