Manchester Cop's warning "scaremongering"

[PigletJohn]

By a dreadful coincidence, Theresa May (when Home Secretary) was warned about the effects of manpower cuts in the police in 2015, and dismissed it as scaremongering.

[Creampastry]

All she does is cut police numbers which is disgraceful. She's going to continue to do this. Having extra firearms officers on the stteeets now is no good as if something happens next week, they'll be knackered. She needs to start valuing the police rather than pissing all over them.

[cdtaylornats]

And how pray tell would having extra police have prevented this?

[PigletJohn]

You haven't watched the vid, then.

[cdtaylornats]

Now I've watched it and still don't see how it would have helped prevent the bombing.

The terrorist was already known, no matter how many police we had we can't watch everybody. Electronic surveillance is the way forward.

The extra firearm people on the street army or police is security theatre.

Other than searching everybody as they enter any public building nothing can stop a determined terrorist. If they really wanted to keep the public safe the public meeting in Manchester the next night wouldn't have been allowed as it was a prime target.

Less fuss about ISPs storing metadata and GCHQ having access to it would do more than a 1000 extra officers.

[PigletJohn]

so you don't agree that cutting community police officers removes eyes and ears, and their local knowledge.

you don't agree that needing about a thousand armed soldiers on guarding duties reflects badly on the previous cutting of about a thousand police firearms officers, or that it is the paramilitary policing she was warned about.

You do agree that mentioning these issues in advance was scaremongering.

"nothing can stop a determined terrorist."

That's funny, you're saying the same as Jeremy.

Beware, Theresa interprets it as saying the bombing was "our own fault."

[cdtaylornats]

The armed soldiers were window dressing. It is security theatre - same as airport security.

[UnmentionedElephantDildo]

I think the different view comes from looking at different problems.

The sort of police intelligence which counters crime (and can foster good community relations)

And the sort of counter-terrorist intelligence, which shouid lead to specialist investigations and arrests. MI5 - which has been expanded, not cut - is to investigate why Abedi was not considered an urgent threat.

Have Special Branch (or whatever they're called these days) been cut in the same proportions as other areas of policing? Has this reduced their capability to run sources in the community? Is the interface between the (newish) MI5 regional hubs and the police actually working?

[meditrina]

"The armed soldiers were window dressing. It is security theatre - same as airport security."

Not in this case, they were back-filling the more routine armed police roles (so where you used to see two outside embassies, it's now one plus a soldier) so that armed police were available to carry out all the raids that have been going on in the last week, plus leaving enough over for the normal aremed response levels.

[PigletJohn]

I hear posters are going up drawing attention to Theresa's cutting of police numbers and suggesting it weakens police effectiveness.

IMO this is in rather bad taste, in the same way that her and her team repeatedly claiming Jeremy to be pro-terrorism was.