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.

My ds has had his beef guns removed

I know it’s not the point but this made me chuckle.

It creates a brilliant mental image 🤣

[quote EnoughAlready2020]@CodexDevinchi good for you. When someone reported our white neighbour having a gun, yes armed police turned up and yes they even cordoned the street but they didn't bash down the door and just asked the guy to come to the door with his hands up. Actually this was in Islington just down the road from where this happened. [/quote]
They didn't bash the door down in this case. The twelve year old answered it - at midnight, in Camden!!!! Fuck that for a game of soldiers. But anyway, the police didn't kick anything in.

@itsgettingweird

Imo she is an idiot for thinking the police should have stood there unarmed and waited whilst they got and walked towards them with a gun that looked real and hoped it wasn't and hoped they didn't get shot.

We have a real issue with increasing gun crime in this country. It's easy to see why.

Completely agree.

I'd still like everyone who disagrees with the police response to explain how they should have handled it.

Imagine - I make a call now to the police. I can see a youth in the house opposite holding a gun. What should happen?

I also wonder how many people would be happy if policy was to politely knock and ask if someone was armed in the house, without appropriate uniform and back up, just in case. I would guess they wouldn't, but the police are obviously fair game for cannon fodder, so they should do it as to avoid possibly offending people.

If they were the ones having to knock

@SmileEachDay

My ds has had his beef guns removed

I know it’s not the point but this made me chuckle.

It creates a brilliant mental image 🤣

A good example of why I should proof read 🤦🏼‍♀️🤣🤣

I'd still like everyone who disagrees with the police response to explain how they should have handled it.

Imagine - I make a call now to the police. I can see a youth in the house opposite holding a gun. What should happen?

Me too, some of the replies here are already hilarious. Beyond belief actually if you actually have experience of armed policing.

Haven't read whole thread (23 pages OMG!). If boy was deemed responsible enough to be up at 11pm unsupervised then he's old enough to be investigated. If it was a real bb gun (mixed reporting as to whether it was a 'toy' bb gun or not) then his mum should ask herself what exactly was going on! A 13-yr old boy was stabbed in our 'very safe' local park yesterday - kids get into difficult situations at a younger age now than ever before. The police acted responsibly and commendably on a valid tip off and describing him as black was down to the MOP and not the police. Full marks to them!

@Gobbycop

I'd still like everyone who disagrees with the police response to explain how they should have handled it.

Imagine - I make a call now to the police. I can see a youth in the house opposite holding a gun. What should happen?

Me too, some of the replies here are already hilarious. Beyond belief actually if you actually have experience of armed policing.

I reckon they'd like a response like this

I reckon they'd like a response like this

😂👍🏻

@SmileEachDay

Lots, I’ve had one myself and used to teach that year group. Why?

Because I find your analysis of his posture interesting. I wondered how you were contextualising it.

Smile well he actually did yawn so maybe go back and watch it. He is fidgeting, not engaged with what his mother was saying although he does look to the left at points when she is speaking as if recalling what she has said. When the head is lifted high with the chin jutting forward it signals superiority, fearlessness or arrogance, it allows you too look down your nose on somebody -plenty of body language articles on this. I’ve honestly seen this with with year nine boys when they are being asked to do some thing or being told off by a women.

I also think, considering the scenes we've witnessed from America, that the police behaved very professionally.

They had reports of a gun. They turned up armed, fair enough, but they didn't break the door down, they didn't shoot anyone, they didn't use excessive force. They acted entirely properly surely?

Of course the mum and boy aren't happy. Unfortunately that's what happens when you hold a replica gun in view of passersby. Someone might believe it's the real thing and report you. If only there was a way to avoid it - like not owning it in the first place or at the very least hiding it from public view.

I wouldn't want to be in the police, especially in todays climate! They are buggered no matter what they do..
Totally agree they handled it the right way! They don't want to risk getting shot if it had been real..
All these armchair 'police' who always know better couldn't do their job in a million years!
My brother is in the police & i always worry when i hear of a policeman being hurt or killed in London

God forbid he did not present himself in a manner that was satisfactory to you. Is he on trial here?

@Dizzib1

I wouldn't want to be in the police, especially in todays climate! They are buggered no matter what they do.. Totally agree they handled it the right way! They don't want to risk getting shot if it had been real.. All these armchair 'police' who always know better couldn't do their job in a million years! My brother is in the police & i always worry when i hear of a policeman being hurt or killed in London

My brother in law is. Confronted a man with a sawn off shotgun once when he was a bobby on the beat. Thinking about it, I hope the man wasn't too traumatised by the response. Poor sausage.

As not unexpected a mixed bad of opposing views as only a few here had the foresight to take a neutral viewpoint and take all the unnecessary baggage out of the equation and see the real issue of concern.

Simply put and without reading the article as presumably it is telling the story from one side. The side who I assume went to media to I guess claim and weaponise a supposedly over reaction and innocent victimhood against disproportionate law enforcement peacekeeping.

Take away the unnecessary immaterial facts you can with neutral eyes see a potentially dangerous and frightening scenario given initial unknown gun details. Police are duty bound to defuse a tough and potentially explosive volatile situation.

A person is for some unknown reason seen with a gun. Does not matter demographics (sex, age, etc) as unless this is a controlled gun club, hunt or agribusiness setting it is strange for anyone in the UK to be in possession of a gun (which from a far looks dangerously realistic). This particular gun is an imitation gun (presumably not meant for children) and although not lethal can cause pain and injury. The parent(s) may well consider to perhaps not normalise weaponry as toys (or at least respect age related issues) as it may subconsciously normalise the functionality of guns and other weapons and could lead to a gun culture of crime. This sadly is supposedly not uncommon in certain urban communities where weaponisation and violence is something that happens but unreported. Hence within this context of law enforcement and pubic safety one may view more favourably and with appreciation the police reaction (admittedly not wholly fully appropriate against a minor) to prevent the seeding of future undesirable life and death situations. In a worst case scenario the child could either have accidentally shot himself or cause harm to others. That is not what most mums would think ideal. If guns are your thing then possibly join a shooting club, law enforcement or military when age appropriate and do it properly and understand the potential and deterrent of lethal weapons as used by armed police in this case.

Well at least it wasn’t a chair leg ...

@AuntyPasta

Well at least it wasn’t a chair leg ...

No, you can't say that. That was a white man. It ruins the rhetoric.

All the armchair police officers in here are probably the same people who say things like "should just shoot the weapons out of their hands" or "shoot them in the legs to stop them" whenever there is news about the police having to shoot someone. Without having any idea of the situation, or ballistics, and thinking the armed police units are stocked full of clones of Bret Maverick and Rooster Cogburn.

@ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia

As not unexpected a mixed bad of opposing views as only a few here had the foresight to take a neutral viewpoint and take all the unnecessary baggage out of the equation and see the real issue of concern.

Simply put and without reading the article as presumably it is telling the story from one side. The side who I assume went to media to I guess claim and weaponise a supposedly over reaction and innocent victimhood against disproportionate law enforcement peacekeeping.

Take away the unnecessary immaterial facts you can with neutral eyes see a potentially dangerous and frightening scenario given initial unknown gun details. Police are duty bound to defuse a tough and potentially explosive volatile situation.

A person is for some unknown reason seen with a gun. Does not matter demographics (sex, age, etc) as unless this is a controlled gun club, hunt or agribusiness setting it is strange for anyone in the UK to be in possession of a gun (which from a far looks dangerously realistic). This particular gun is an imitation gun (presumably not meant for children) and although not lethal can cause pain and injury. The parent(s) may well consider to perhaps not normalise weaponry as toys (or at least respect age related issues) as it may subconsciously normalise the functionality of guns and other weapons and could lead to a gun culture of crime. This sadly is supposedly not uncommon in certain urban communities where weaponisation and violence is something that happens but unreported. Hence within this context of law enforcement and pubic safety one may view more favourably and with appreciation the police reaction (admittedly not wholly fully appropriate against a minor) to prevent the seeding of future undesirable life and death situations. In a worst case scenario the child could either have accidentally shot himself or cause harm to others. That is not what most mums would think ideal. If guns are your thing then possibly join a shooting club, law enforcement or military when age appropriate and do it properly and understand the potential and deterrent of lethal weapons as used by armed police in this case.

Excellent post.

I was really trying to hone in on it being the media who focussed on it being a black boy rather than it being a person with a real looking gun. And that they were the bias here and not the police or race.

But I couldn't express it as succinctly as you have!

@nancy75

Pretty poor reporting on this, a toy gun is easy to distinguish from a real gun, from what I’ve seen the gun was a replica rather than a toy. Given that they live in London in an area where knife & gun crime is a huge issue amongst teens I think it’s pretty crap parenting to let a child own such a thing.

It’s not easy to tell the difference at all between a toy gun, a replica and the real thing. The Police are damned if they do take action, damned if they don’t. What kind of idiot parent thinks it’s ok for their kids to wander around with any kind of gun. Especially in today’s climate.

I’m just thrilled they didn’t kill the child.

‘wander around’

You mean sit in his living room?

And there was a time in the UK when an Irish accent, which the person who contacted the police about Harry Stanley described him as having, was considered a reason for being quick on the trigger. Prejudice still kills, whatever the reason.

@AuntyPasta

‘wander around’

You mean sit in his living room?

Is it legal to sit in your living room holding a gun then?

I'd also question whether he was just "sitting in the living room". Why? Just sitting on the sofa holding a BB gun at midnight? Does that sound plausible? More likely he was messing around posing - wonder if he was putting pictures on SM?