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.

[quote ktp100]@PlanDeRaccordement '|Gun owning households'?!!!

How many of those do you know? Because I know literally zero and am sure that's the case for pretty much everyone!![/quote]
I know quite a few in the U.K.
They are hunters, farmers, historical re-enacters.

How should the police have responded?
London has high rates of knife and gun crime, I'd expect them to respond pretty much as they did regardless of if the boy was black, white or any other ethnicity to be honest. If I had noticed anyone at all holding that gun i would have reported it immediately.. it's hardly one of those half bright blue and orange poundland ones is it?

My youngest brother had quite an obsession with all things guns and army when he was younger, but as he was quite big for his age and looked a good few years older than he was my mum refused to let him out of the house with any sort of toy gun after the age of around 8. We are a white family living in a low crime area, but as my mum pointed out if someone reported him for having a gun (and of course people will feel threatened if they come across anyone with what they believe to be a gun) this was potentially going to be the outcome to it and it wasnt worth the risk.

We are a ‘gun owning household’ but legally. I’m an appalling shot but I’m sure I could draw and fire quicker than my child.

Of course they didn't.

Someone reports from outside a house that they saw a Black male waving a gun around inside house, did police intelligence stop to think:

• who lives in that house
• are there any children in that house
• how likely is this story to be true
• should we call out to ask who is home
• this person we are arresting is a child

No. Instead they took one look at the lovely house in a nice neighbourhood, decided there must be a Black man about to kill the people inside said house, then at least 5 firearms officers in full riot gear including rifles and visors turn up and bash this innocent lady's door in.

They handcuff her 12 YEAR OLD son, put him in the back of a police car and drive him to another street for questioning. The innocent boy and his family will be traumatised for life from that experience.

I doubt this would have happened had the family been white, the police are disgusting, and it was a completely disproportionate response, if the facts are as reported. I look forward to hearing the outcome of the investigation which the police themselves have commissioned.

@Meatshake

Ohh that's worrying that they reacted like that. I've (35 year old white woman) got a toy gun a bit like that. Used to get drunk and shoot BBs at cans in the garden when I was at uni. Better get rid before my kids grow up and find it 😬

Yes, you should. As discharging a firearm - even a BB gun - is illegal within 25 yards of the public thoroughfare (well, it was when my very white boyfriend got prosecuted for it back in 1993 as a result of his late night target practice in the back garden). His parents weren't impressed with the police visit, either - they just didn't bleat about it not being fair.

And people - babies and toddlers - have died from air rifle injuries, not to mention the vast numbers of domestic pets that have been killed or wounded by bored teenagers with the fucking things.

So a child was playing quietly in is own house with a toy and a passer by looked through his window and saw him with a 'toy' gun and reported him to the police, who then entered the house and pointed guns at young children... "I saw there were red dots on my daughters' heads" and some of you think that' ok?

Get a fucking grip, that is NOT ok, the photo of the gun in the article doesn't look like a real gun and the police should have approached this situation with caution and diplomacy. There wasn't a 'hostage situation' going in here.

As a poster pointed out above, if this has been a white child in a village in Devon this would never have happened, this is every day racism

I saw this story reported on both BBC News and Channel 4 news this evening, with the same facts, and including Oman interview with the mother and son. I was absolutely appalled.

Exactly, there are legal reasons and ways to own a gun in U.K.

But it is true most U.K. people have never seen a real gun and so it makes it even harder to expect a random passerby to know the difference between a handgun and a BB gun that mimics a handgun.
Even police from a distance or in bad lighting could mistake it for the real thing.

@hadenoughbleach

Of course they didn't.

Someone reports from outside a house that they saw a Black male waving a gun around inside house, did police intelligence stop to think:

• who lives in that house
• are there any children in that house
• how likely is this story to be true
• should we call out to ask who is home
• this person we are arresting is a child

No. Instead they took one look at the lovely house in a nice neighbourhood, decided there must be a Black man about to kill the people inside said house, then at least 5 firearms officers in full riot gear including rifles and visors turn up and bash this innocent lady's door in.

They handcuff her 12 YEAR OLD son, put him in the back of a police car and drive him to another street for questioning. The innocent boy and his family will be traumatised for life from that experience.

I doubt this would have happened had the family been white, the police are disgusting, and it was a completely disproportionate response, if the facts are as reported. I look forward to hearing the outcome of the investigation which the police themselves have commissioned.

Did it hurt reaching that hard?

*including an interview

cant bb guns blind people?
Why for goodness sake give a dc something like that

I imagine you would feel quite comfortable for your theoretical 12 year old to be treated in this way, along with your family R1R2

You should watch the full story instead of trying to pretend it didn't happen.

At midnight

Not many children sitting up playing with their toys at that time

Police were 100% correct

@LoisDevineeeee

So a child was playing quietly in is own house with a toy and a passer by looked through his window and saw him with a 'toy' gun and reported him to the police, who then entered the house and pointed guns at young children... "I saw there were red dots on my daughters' heads" and some of you think that' ok?

Get a fucking grip, that is NOT ok, the photo of the gun in the article doesn't look like a real gun and the police should have approached this situation with caution and diplomacy. There wasn't a 'hostage situation' going in here.

As a poster pointed out above, if this has been a white child in a village in Devon this would never have happened, this is every day racism

It would be barely unrecognisable from the Glock 17 its modelled on from a distance or in low light conditions, this is why the law states that replica weapons must be at least 51% a bright colour

at least 5 firearms officers in full riot gear including rifles and visors turn up and bash this innocent lady's door in

How do we know the police bashed the door in? Granted the article first mentioned that they "broke in", but then later it says "Kai had opened the door and was being arrested"

’As a poster pointed out above, if this has been a white child in a village in Devon this would never have happened, this is every day racism‘

It is but the police had to respond to the report and to be fair it is more likely to be a real handgun in London than in a Devon. Why the person reported it - why they viewed the boy as a genuine threat - and how the police handled that response probably had a lot to do with the colour of the child’s skin.

@hadenoughbleach

I imagine you would feel quite comfortable for your theoretical 12 year old to be treated in this way, along with your family R1R2

You should watch the full story instead of trying to pretend it didn't happen.

Wouldn't happen because unlike some i exercise parental responsibility. You should try it some time rather than looking for excuses.

I used to be awake listening to the radio until midnight when I was 12 because the internet and games consoles hadn’t been invented yet - on school nights too

@hadenoughbleach

Of course they didn't.

Someone reports from outside a house that they saw a Black male waving a gun around inside house, did police intelligence stop to think:

• who lives in that house
• are there any children in that house
• how likely is this story to be true
• should we call out to ask who is home
• this person we are arresting is a child

No. Instead they took one look at the lovely house in a nice neighbourhood, decided there must be a Black man about to kill the people inside said house, then at least 5 firearms officers in full riot gear including rifles and visors turn up and bash this innocent lady's door in.

They handcuff her 12 YEAR OLD son, put him in the back of a police car and drive him to another street for questioning. The innocent boy and his family will be traumatised for life from that experience.

I doubt this would have happened had the family been white, the police are disgusting, and it was a completely disproportionate response, if the facts are as reported. I look forward to hearing the outcome of the investigation which the police themselves have commissioned.

This is unhinged. If someone reports an illegal gun, then working through your police intelligence list would take so much time that if there were an actual gun, the likelihood of the police arriving before someone is shot or a child accidentally shoots themself would go to nil. Then there’d be public outcry! Gun reported, police take 3 hrs to respond because they had to do all the stupid stuff you’ve listed. They need to respond, and ensure the situation is safe as their priority. Not sit and say, oh I’m calling the house but it went to voice mail...

@Wonderland18

When I was pregnant the police stopped me and DSS who was 11 and carrying a bright blue plastic gun as someone reported him for pointing it at shop windows, the police officers seemed awkward but wouldn’t allow us to leave with the cheap Poundland toy unless getting in a car and heading home. i.e no more walking or getting on public transport with it

I bet you was mortified

A 12yr old white girl was arrested for making her fingers into a gun shape and pointing them at class mates. Handcuffed and frogmarched out of her school. Parents had to pick her up at the police station.

Do tell.

I think the police did the right thing.
Yes, it wasn’t a real gun, but it certainly looked like one to whoever had reported it.
By the sounds of it the reporter hadn’t said it was a child so how were the police to know?
I’m not sure if the police are going to start checking on who lives there, it wouldn’t make any difference as to who could be in the house at the time.

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.

Someone above posted the law relating to air guns - so was the boy committing an offence anyway by being in possession of the BB gun?