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.

'Her son Kai had roused suspicions of a passer-by who said they saw a "black male holding a firearm on the sofa", in Medburn Street, Camden'

On the sofa.

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...

This! WTF is wrong with people? A policeman here was shot, and killed, when dealing with a routine traffic infringement. They can't take a situation with a gun (and they are not to know what sort of gun based on what someone saw) lightly. If it was a BB gun, in my country you can only use them if you have a firearms licence, or are under the supervision of someone over 18 with a licence, so they are treated seriously.

The mother says this

"If we live in a world where children can face being shot by police for having a toy gun, which are not illegal, then something is not right", she said.

.....

Why the hell would you let your child play with a very real looking gun at 12...

And then go to the press!

This thread is so depressing.

How many of you have had dealings with the met.

He was in his own home. Year 7. A report doesn't bring out a knock on the door with backup but a full on so19 response.

That's not right. That's not how we used to do things.

For those saying yeah awesome. You want us to be like USA.

Ok. Wait till you are in a situation with them.

Gang members are starting at this age, yes, year 7, yes 12 years old.

They carry weapons....

Sadly, this is happening more and more, especially in big cities, Like London

The same way children have played with toy guns since guns were invented

5 year olds run around a garden shouting BANG with bright yellow toy/nerf guns.

Is that what a 12 year old does at midnight, with a realistic looking replica gun that fires ball bearings?

No wonder a passerby called the police.

Being arrested is a lot better than being shot by the police, which is what would probably have happened where I live.

I doubt there would have been a call to the police if it had been a white child.

People inclined to make police reports tend not to extend the benefit of the doubt to black citizens.

@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.

@hadenoughbleach yes, they would have had a briefing covering exactly these things. They'd also be doing a risk assessment weighing up the chance that it might be true/the severity of what might happen if it was true against the possibility of it being a mistake. Clearly they believed that the risk justified acting in the way that they did.

mathanxiety@ if someone really thought that someone had a gun I don’t think their first thought would be are they black or white of course they would call the police.

@Pixxie7

mathanxiety@ if someone really thought that someone had a gun I don’t think their first thought would be are they black or white of course they would call the police.

Surely the point is that it would be a subconscious assumption about whether it was a toy or not, and that would be (subconsciously) influenced by the race of the child.

Of course it's impossible to judge this though.. Probably even by the person reporting it themselves.

The gun looked real, that’s all that would matter to me.

Maybe the answer is to have areas where the police react normally. And areas where the police dont respond to any crime/999 calls because the residents dont want police involvement.

We could have a public vote?

ZombieFan@ can you imagine it? Talk about dived society.

Can someone link to show why it was illegal for a 12yo to have a toy BB gun at home?

All I can find is this:

Possession of a BB guns that looks like a real firearm in a public place will amount to an offence of possession of an imitation firearm, regardless of the power of the gun itself.

This boy wasn’t in a public place.

www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q327.htm

The boy had a two tone toy BB gun (pic of you attached).

The thinking behind two-tone bb guns is so that they can be easily identified as an unrealistic imitation firearm by the police and public, stopping any unnecessary distress.

You can buy a 2 tone Airsoft BB Guns and either gift it to someone else, or allow them to use it – regardless of their age – you are not breaking the law. So, a parent can buy a 2 tone airsoft gun and give it to their child to use or keep.

www.justbbguns.co.uk/airsoft-law/

@Flowers009 your talking nonsense, our Police here would and have reacted exactly the same for incidents like this, regardless of colour.

I’m a pretty relaxed parent and my DC are adults. I never ever let my DS have toy guns of any description. I just didn’t get it, why would you encourage violence in play?

If it was an actual BB gun it is against the law. Saying that, its the adult letting their kid get hold of the gun that has broken the law not the child. From wiki:

Since February 2011, TheCrime & Security Act 2010(S.46) made it an offence"...for a person in possession of an air weapon to fail to take reasonable precautions to prevent any person under the age of eighteen from having the weapon with him...".[31]This legislation essentially relates to the storage of air guns and the requirement of owners to prevent unauthorised access by children.

But the toy BB gun in question doesn’t fit the above:

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

your talking nonsense, our Police here would and have reacted exactly the same for incidents like this, regardless of colour.

The police have arrested a 12 yo child playing with a toy bb air gun in their own home on another occasion? Can you link @Crumpets111?

mathanxiety@ if someone really thought that someone had a gun I don’t think their first thought would be are they black or white of course they would call the police.

I suspect the opposite is true, and for all sorts of petty infractions that fall far short of flaunting a gun. It certainly is true in the US, where I live.

I shudder to think what African American parents might have to consider if their son asked for a BB gun for Christmas as my DS did.

mathanxiety@ if someone really thought that someone had a gun I don’t think their first thought would be are they black or white of course they would call the police.

Sorry, was quoting this ^^ but forgot italics.

The person reporting the "crime" didn't identify the person as young, the gun as looking like a toy.

The police had no idea that either of the two possibilities existed.

They have a protocol and they followed it.

Hindsight is a great thing.

Why the hell would you let your child play with a very real looking gun at 12...

You might if your child was white and if you had neighbours who wouldn't be startled by the sight of a white youth holding something that looked like a real gun in his own garden, or upset if they heard popping sounds coming from that garden.

I enjoyed that privilege.

DS used to set up empty cans at the bottom of the backyard and shoot pellets at them.

As I remarked, I can only imagine what African American parents would have had to consider if their DS had asked for one for Christmas.