12 year old arrested

[Pixxie7]

Do you think the police acted appropriately given that they had a tip off that a boy was waving a gun around.

It's not a race thing. Calm down.

I know a WHITE male who inadvertently ended up with his toddler's bathtime water pistol in his pocket at an airport and was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Standard Procedure - the police cannot take chances.

If I saw a gun like that, I’d take a second look too. I don’t blame the police at all.

I have a 12yo son. He has nerf guns but they are orange and blue, clearly toys. I wouldn’t allow my ds to have something like that, it’s too convincing, clearly intended to look really and I wouldn’t want it pointed at me.

I am used to guns. We have licensed shotguns for sport shooting but they are locked in a cabinet and never in view. When we go shooting they are in a locked case in the boot of the car, bolted to the sub-frame. I doubt my neighbours know I shoot.

Hand guns aren’t a game. The police acted correctly.

*’look real’

A similar thing happened to someone I know. Armed police. Camden. Many similar features to this story. But white. I am not sure if he was arrested though - can’t recall. I can’t see why that bit happened once they had found the scene to be as it was.

@Orphlids

Intelligence shows that this address is known to be used by a male known to police for firearm offences.

Do you have a link for this?

bumblingbovine hopefully the police have given the boy and his mother such a shock, that they get rid of (hand in) such a convincing-looking and stupid item.

Boy needed to be terrified. Having a bb gun to play is a no joke. What if he shoots anyone, or any animals?
And the mum needed to know too, that is a stupidest thing to give a child a bb gun.
I think this has done a good job educating people. It's hurtful to see the news that animals has been shot and hurt by these.

I live in a large house converted into flats. When DD1 was little my Mum was looking after her and armed police stormed the building. She was terrified.

An idiot in another flat had been spotted by neighbours opposite with a ‘gun’ which was a fancy cigarette lighter.

Sorry, but the police were right and the Mum is an idiot if she let him have such an item. Why is a 12 year old ‘playing’ with guns anyway?

@totalpeas22
Indeed they do. If a child is not capable of being arrested, it makes sense that criminals will make ready use of this :''Look after this, for me''.
Kids carrying drugs, guns and ammo without fear of arrest would be insanely dangerous.

At that age they KNOW what it means , they are not a little child .

It does look like an automatic pistol.

oakleaffy - you cannot be completely sure of your assertion that nobody would ever call the police over a gun like piece of toast, or a ninja sword, or a plastic machete.

After all, someone saw what they thought was a gun through a window, and made a call.

They must have had their nose stuck right up against that window so they were completely sure they were doing the right thing. Or was it that they saw the fatal combination of a black male and a gun-like shape, and decided on that basis?

The police will show up for anything as long as the caller mentions 'black male'.

And sometimes they will shoot.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/birmingham-police-shooting-sharif-cousins-black-men-uk-a8849281.html
“Body-worn video supported the account given by the officer who said Mr Cousins did not immediately comply with commands to raise his hands and appeared to be reaching behind to get something out of a pocket, which at that moment he thought was a gun.

Maybe it was a piece of toast.

@user1497207191

Quite, how many times do we hear the police won't come out to various crimes.

We have an underfunded understaffed police force. None of us are safe when we have insufficient and inappropriate policing. The aggressive policing tactics of e.g. dragging black drivers out of cars are more when you think burglary is no longer consistently investigated.

Why does a 12yo boy need a very real looking BB gun?

And why does a 12yo boy need to be sat on a sofa in a family lounge waving it about?

What this story teaches us is guns are serious. They pose serious risk. They aren't toys. They shouldn't be waved around Willy nilly.

Age and race is irrelevant.

Ginger
A back garden in a set of terraces. A garage next to a gate forming the "back" fences to the neighbours about 5ft. Side access gate shared with neighbour for bins. The armed police gained entry at the side and back. Although it is quite enclosed it is fairly overlooked by houses to either side and the terrace row at the back. It wasn't the neighbour that made the report as they were away on holiday. So I guess he'll never know which house was alarmed by a man practicing sword moves in his garden. But someone was.

From UK Police website:

""It is an offence to sell an imitation firearm to a person under the age of 18, or for a person under 18 to purchase one.

An imitation firearm has been defined as 'anything, which has the appearance of being a firearm whether or not it is capable of discharging any shot, bullet, or other missile' so could include toy guns. Many imitation weapons are very realistic and until the weapon has been seized, it is difficult to ascertain whether it is genuine or not.

All calls to police involving firearms are treated as if it is a genuine firearm so be aware that if you do wave an imitation firearm around you could find yourself surrounded by firearms officers pointing real weapons at you.""

‘This is London, not America’ said his mother.

Give us another 20 years ....

It's not a race thing. Calm down

It’s incredibly naive to think being black does not change the police response Article here

I also think that buying children even vaguely realistic guns is awful for lots of reasons - especially given how gun culture/particular music genres is such a cross over with young people.

And yes, I realise that last sentence makes me sound 105.

.. hopefully the police have given the boy and his mother such a shock, that they get rid of (hand in) such a convincing-looking and stupid item.

Yes, seeing red dots on the foreheads of your daughters should cow the mother and her family all right

I hope they get a shit hot lawyer and a huge settlement for wrongful arrest and infliction of completely unnecessary terror.

Do you really believe that swarming with dogs and automatic weapons at midnight, cuffing a child and hauling him off to the station is the way to educate anyone about civic values?

@Orphlids

So police receive a report of a black male with a gun at a certain address. Intelligence shows that this address is known to be used by a male known to police for firearm offences. Police respond accordingly, in a way that protects both themselves (why should they risk their own lives with a softly softly approach?!) and other members of the public. It turns out the initial report received from the member of public was in this case inaccurate. The police cannot run the risk of not taking a report such as this seriously. There will always be so much more to these stories than is reported in the press, please try to remember that.

^ this Bloody hell, the police are damned if they do and damned if they don't Parent your bloody child & take some responsibility

@oakleaffy

The soft air type of BB gun which is 'toy like', though it may be a little too powerful to be officially classed as a toy, does not fit within the definition of a section 1 firearm because it is usually too low powered and is probably designed to fire plastic/aluminium pellets. It will normally have a very low power rating, compared to an average air weapon
www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q327.htm

(Posted by Cadent upthread)

Wait! So, having looked at the video, heard the mums version of events, thinkon only of what she said happened, it all makes perfect sense:

Police get report of black male with a gun inside a house
Armed officers respond
Get to the scene and are admitted to the house
They arrest and cuff the presumed armed suspect so they can make sure the house and occupants are safe
He struggles and is obviously scared, he is told to calm down
Mum decides it is all unfair.

What's the problem with that?

That the passer-by made an assumption?

That the police responded to the situation as they would all other suspected armed suspects?

Or that everyone is leaping to accuse all and sundry of racism because the kid is black?

Well, sod that for a game of soldiers. The colour of his skin wasn't what was illegal. The COLOUR OF THE GUN is the point!

Yes, there is ingrained racism within the police and many other rgansiations and individuals. But sometimes the colour of your skin is utterly meaningless. And waving a firearm around is one of them!

Stop shouting racism just because a BAME individual is involved. You cheapen the fight to end such bigotry!

hadenoughbleach
Seriously.... you know that’s what they thought yes? Do you know the actual protocol for attending a such a job do you?? Your making a vast sweeping statement that’s just not correct! You (or control) call firearms before you even set off yourself, it’s protocol.....

mathanxiety, why are you so against this? Do you really think it's better for them to get huge settlement over this? What if the gun was real next time, and the life was lost?
Don't you even agree that mother made a mistake to give 12 years old realistic looking bb gun that can actually hurt others?

Except the colour of his skin is relevant - the passerby reported “a black male”

We’ll never know how the response would have been different if the passerby had just reported “a kid”.