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.

I haven’t read the whole thread. IMO - yes reports of a gun, go the house in your gear. Once you get there and see a mother and child, no one is brandishing a gun, no one else is there (I don’t know who else was there actually), yes, take mother and child together to the station to talk, or even better, talk to them in the house.

Why was it necessary for them to scare everyone shitless, put painful handcuffs on a child and scare him senseless, taking him away from his Mum.

So I think their actions were damaging and disproportionate.

if we really want equality in this country we need to to forget the colour of someone’s skin. Black people continually referring to all white people in a derogative manner is as bad as white people doing it.

The issue OP is that black people don’t have the luxury of being able to forget the colour of their skin. They’re reminded of it everyday, whether overtly or covertly.

Who has referred to white people in a ‘derogative manner’?

I’m not black and I can’t even begin to understand what it’s like for black people living in this toxic atmosphere but I do know what’s wrong when I see it.

Black people continually referring to all white people in a derogative manner is as bad as white people doing it

Also it would be good if you could explain why this is relevant to this discussion? I haven't been aware of large numbers of white citizens being arrested aggressively by black police officers.

This sort of pointless statement is intended to distract from what is really happening.

Something about this doesn't sound complete.

I can almost hear the conversation between the police operator and 'witness' going something like this:

You see a black male with a gun?
Yes.

What's the address?
[Address given]

Can you still see him?
Yes.

Where is he/What's he doing?
[What was the answer here?]

[They may/may not ask] Do you know this person/Is he a neighbour? [giving the time of the call]
So he's

That was supposed to be:
African American male is threatening...

Black male child with a gun...

@Pixxie7
We can all make changes, acknowledging any feelings of racism we feel and be kinder to each other.
There is no evidence that the police would have responded any differently whoever the person was.

I can see one big change that could be made right there in that post.

It would be a great start.

And it’s funny that there are threads calling for people to forget the colour of people’s skin when the police, acknowledged to be institutionally racist, fuck up, and yet those people don’t post threads urging people to forget the colour of people’s skin when it comes to the woeful under-representation of black and other ethnic minorities in top management roles.

By which I mean - we could all try to stop denying that racism is a factor in policing and also in the choice of what to report as suspicious activity.

I do think the govt should ban/make it illegal to own toy/bb guns that looks real. So black and grey colour should be out completely. High visibility colours preferable.

If having a toy/bb gun for play is what people like about it, then there should be no problem still getting them but it may deter some whose main purpose is owning something that looks real (because they can't own the real one) for sinister purposes or to gain "cool points".

Interested to hear what people think the police should have done once they had a report of someone with a gun called in?.

Obviously nothing, people might get offended.

@Andthewinnerislucky

I think what we really need is a properly funded and staffed police force which is not racist in its policing. A ban on this colour toy gun will do nothing.

Sadly there is racism in all walks including the police but there are guidelines and procedures in all professions. There seems to be an assumption that the police only followed these guidelines because he was black.

Those are two different things and they can happen independent of each other. I agree to both.

That was to @labyrinthloafer

Why would any parent give their 12 years old a pellet gun to play in the house? It's a dangerous toy.

If BB guns were banned for everyone does anyone think it would make a single bit of difference to this story?

Of course police did the right thing. Parents shouldn't allow their children to have realistic looking guns. What next? Realistic looking toy knives/machetes?!

I don't really think it's a race issue - just a poor parenting decision.

Why does a 12 year old need a very realistic looking 'toy' gun?

Sorry but I hate guns and thinks there absolutely no need for it. I'd have thought it was real

I honestly would want the police to go in all guns blazing (obviously not shooting first and asking questions later) if there's a report of someone with a gun/wielding a knife. Better safe than sorry. Next time, it could be an actual gun and the police would have saved the situation.

The only way to avoid it being a mistake and a waste of police time and resources is by making the toy/not real ones look the part. That way, no one can claim "it looked real".

The police took it to far this could (and was) be a malicious report and they wasted all that time
What they should have done is found out who lived at the address first..

How would they know it was malicious unless initial research shows a history of malicious reporting for that person / address? You say that it WAS malicious, but we don't know that; it may have been well - intentioned.

They will have found out who lives at the address first. They will have done a risk assessment and found it proportionate to take the action they did. Just because children and a female live at an address does not mean that there may not be a credible threat. There is no magic age at which a person will certainly only have a BB gun and at which they will have a viable firearm. The fact that the BB gun in this case was not painted a bright colour as per the law would not have helped e.g., if it had been reported that the gun was a pistol with a bright orange / green / blue topslide, it would have identified it as a probable BB gun. It is unlikely that the person reporting could distinguish the dark blue topslide in the weapon pictured through a window. There is a reason why there is this legal requirement and this episode demonstrates it perfectly.

@Pixxie7

Sadly there is racism in all walks including the police but there are guidelines and procedures in all professions. There seems to be an assumption that the police only followed these guidelines because he was black.

I think you're just stirring noe. Unless you're from Mars, you will be aware that the police react differently if you're black.

That is not an assumption, it just is.

How would someone be able to tell how realistic anything looked through a front window, Beautiful3?

There are lots of toy knives, machetes, light sabres, ninja weapons and the like in circulation. They might all look very real to someone looking through a front window and inclined to think the worst of the child playing with them.

The neighbour reproted!
i wonder if it was malicious
shocking.
that could have been any of our sons.

Toy guns can look pretty real...Could you tell the difference?

A 2 yr old with a gun can kill, never mind a 12 yr old.

Mathanxiety, toy gun looks normally looks like a toy gun. My dc has nerf guns but they don't look real at all. It's orange and huge. And I don't let my child play indoors.
My dh collects replica swards/katanas. It looks real. I won't let my dc play with it. And light sabres don't look real harm, does it?