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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

12 year old arrested

1000 replies

Pixxie7 · 24/07/2020 22:42

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

OP posts:
Thread gallery
14
mathanxiety · 26/07/2020 02:39

I am sure the police would have reacted differently if they had been.

@Pixxie7
The same police who arrested their brother, a twelve year old boy?

Or some other police?

Pixxie7 · 26/07/2020 02:42

I am talking about small children, the brother was 12 so above the age of responsibility.

OP posts:
LizzieKane2000 · 26/07/2020 02:45

Poor Kid.
This is a major traumatic experience for a family.

It's not a small incident.

I can't even begin to imagine.

Pixxie7 · 26/07/2020 02:49

Nobody is suggesting that it is a minor incident, it’s about did the police take appropriate action.

OP posts:
LizzieKane2000 · 26/07/2020 02:51

I know.
I wanted to acknowledge the trauma caused by the decision.
This often gets overlooked.

Pixxie7 · 26/07/2020 02:51

Additionally I don’t think the mother allowing her child to interviewed by the press helped.

OP posts:
LizzieKane2000 · 26/07/2020 02:59

Hahahah
The Mum is now a bad parent?!

Pixxie7 · 26/07/2020 03:11

Ok would you want a traumatised child to be interviewed by the press. I know I wouldn’t, my maternal instinct would be to protect that child.

OP posts:
ZombieFan · 26/07/2020 03:18

The police were let in the house at midnight, they were confronted by a semi naked man. They had no idea the persons age when they handcuffed someone who had been reported as 'holding a gun' whilst on a laptop. The mum when she woke up admits he was struggling against the cuffs (probably resisting arrest).

Armed police do not aim guns at the head for a 'kill' shot! After they found the bb gun they let the boy go and left.

No one was hurt because thankfully we mainly have well trained police who followed the rules to the letter.

Don't buy guns.

Staplemaple · 26/07/2020 03:30

@ShinyFootball mentioning things that happened over a decade ago, where there have since been changes in policies isn't really probing your point particularly well, as sad as those instances are.

chrislilleyswig · 26/07/2020 03:33

[quote mathanxiety]@chrislilleyswig

ShinyFootball
I have 2 girls.
You honestly think having red dots on their heads for kill shot is just, ok whatever?
I wouldn't be in that position

You seem to think you would be safe from having a kill shot trained on your forehead, and I wonder what it is that makes you so certain that it will never happen.

There is in that evasion the unspoken smug certainty that victims of police brutality bring these things on themselves.

You have judged them and found them guilty. Welcome to the 51st state.[/quote]
Well yeah

My kids wouldn't be up at that time nor would they be "playing" with a "toy" gun

Quite straightforward really

Staplemaple · 26/07/2020 03:34

A quick google actually shows why the mother may be out for the police, and in that instance actually rightly so, it's heartbreaking.

chrislilleyswig · 26/07/2020 03:38

@Andthewinnerislucky

I'm not interested in "sides" ... My sympathy and empathy is solely with the police officers who had to deal with him and his family

Oh but you are. That's the point of my post. If you weren't, you'd be able to see/admit to other things that wouldn't keep you so rooted on one side. You could move from one "I see this point" to another easily without thinking (I assume) it will take your "I'm on the police side" stance away from you.

You'd be able to empathise even a tiny bit from the pov of the family who must have gotten a bit or a lot of shock while maintaining your stance or you would have admitted that you did.

But nothing can swerve you from 'your side', can it? You're quite rooted and planted, not even sparing a thought for a young adult, near-adult and older child (or are you in their age group?) who didn't didn't even have a real gun.

Hate to see how you'd feel if they did. Perhaps leading the lynch mob.

Nope. Not a thought.

Our police have a hard enough time without having to put up with trial by media prompted by parents who don't own their failings

I can easily admit I'd be terrific I was in that position. Difference is, it's highly unlikely I would ever be in that position. Nor would my kids. So hard to empathise with those that make those sorts of choices.

chrislilleyswig · 26/07/2020 03:41

@LizzieKane2000

Hahahah The Mum is now a bad parent?!
RTFT. there's no "now" about it Her parenting is not the same as others
Pixxie7 · 26/07/2020 04:36

If you look at the picture of hi in his immaculate lounge in his school uniform, there is a bright yellow plastic gun on the couch.

OP posts:
ZombieFan · 26/07/2020 05:01

@Pixxie7

If you look at the picture of hi in his immaculate lounge in his school uniform, there is a bright yellow plastic gun on the couch.
Looks like someone is trying to manipulate the story. Shock
mathanxiety · 26/07/2020 05:02

Well yeah

My kids wouldn't be up at that time nor would they be "playing" with a "toy" gun

Quite straightforward really

@chrislilleyswig

So now staying up late warrants having loaded weapons pointed at your family. And if you send your kids to bed at the proper British bedtime of - is it 5.30pm? - nothing bad will ever happen to you.

All of it boils down to Bad Mothering.

Nice.

The days of witch hunting are far from over.

chrislilleyswig · 26/07/2020 05:28

@mathanxiety

Well yeah

My kids wouldn't be up at that time nor would they be "playing" with a "toy" gun

Quite straightforward really

@chrislilleyswig

So now staying up late warrants having loaded weapons pointed at your family. And if you send your kids to bed at the proper British bedtime of - is it 5.30pm? - nothing bad will ever happen to you.

All of it boils down to Bad Mothering.

Nice.

The days of witch hunting are far from over.

Are you not embarrassed? You should be

Pathetic

mathanxiety · 26/07/2020 05:35

camdennewjournal.com/article/boy-12-arrested-by-armed-police-over-toy-gun

The 'witness' peered through half closed blinds.
The 'witness' would have had to climb over railings and step into a paved front apron area outside of all the houses on Medburn Street to get a view inside any of the houses.

What sort of a clear view would a witness achieve standing on the path outside the house?
What would a witness be doing climbing over railings and taking a look inside a house late at night?
There are all sorts of questions the caller should be asked.

The boy was with his mother, with no sign at all of any conflict.
He opened the door with his mother on the same floor of the home.

Two streets were closed off.
Loaded weapons were trained at the daughters' heads.
The family home was searched for hours while they all had to stand outside.

The Met spokesman said:
Public safety is always a priority for our officers. They face daily challenges making difficult and fast-time decisions while not being in possession of all the information that subsequently transpires.

Asking a few pertinent questions when someone calls to report a gun might be a good idea. A dispatcher could gather information before dragging a force into disrepute and causing great harm to relationships in the community.

Those of you applauding the police decisions, are you happy to think that you and yours might one day be subjected to an experience like this, on the say so of someone who might not like you, or because some pearl clutcher disapproved of some of your parenting decisions? Or are you all sure, like chrislilleyswig, for some reason you are not telling, that nothing like this would ever happen to you?

mathanxiety · 26/07/2020 05:37

No, I am not embarrassed. Why should I be?

I am not the one attacking another woman's parenting choices on a public forum.

itsgettingweird · 26/07/2020 05:46

@mathanxiety

What free pass do the police need here? They followed procedure, acted professionally, no one got hurt. Good job.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras
The problem here is the procedures and the assumptions on which they are based, and the reasoning that the end justifies the means.

So the issue is the assumption a gun could cause a fatal accident or a fatal deliberate action? Confused

Surely that exactly why they need to act.

You don't send someone into a potential dangerous situation without protection.

Same way as we don't send builders into sites without a helmet. Or a demon surgery with no PPE.

itsgettingweird · 26/07/2020 05:54

Totally agree Meg have made mistakes.

Agree there is likely I have cover ups.

Doesn't mean every action they take is incorrect.

In this case they followed procedure.

itsgettingweird · 26/07/2020 05:59

@chrislilleyswig

So the sisters have gone from being "small children" to "young girls"

Has someone been on the Sherry ?

Yeah I know.

The adult girls the mum describes as adults herself!

itsgettingweird · 26/07/2020 06:10

@ShinyFootball

We're all posting on MN.

Let's not forget that mra types got a swat team sent to Justine's house.

Yes.

Not a black male.

Reports of gunman.

Swat team turn up.

It's what they do.

That was awful for both people involved but still doesn't mean the police should or did turn up in short and tie and knock politely asking if there is indeed a gun on the premises.

itsgettingweird · 26/07/2020 06:12

@LizzieKane2000

Hahahah The Mum is now a bad parent?!
Watch the channel 4 interview.

She's actually a complete idiot. This isn't about how people felt. We'd all feel the same way.

It's about her very lax and poor parenting and then incorrectly using the description racial profiling to try and justify her argument.

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