To want to praise the police - London sword attack

[boozeclues]

I have just watched the footage of some very young police officers who detained the man in London today wielding a sword. Not only had he already killed a child, he was determine to kill anyone he met.

The video I watched is here: https://news.sky.com/video/share-13126428

These are mainly very young officers, not wearing much protection (e.g. their whole heads and faces are exposed), and not many of the people in the video can be more than 20 to 30 years old.

Truly heroic IMO. They all deserve a medal. The police bashing in this country also has to stop, we are not America, most of our police force is full of people who want to protect the public, bad management, lack of funding and politics aside.

I am also truly very sad for the young boy who lost his life today and his family, I hope they know the whole country is mourning their loss and want to support them.

Policing is one profession that has taken such a bashing in recent years through the actions of a very small minority of police officers who were not representative of the 1000's of officers in the country. As police officers most are constantly dealing with risk, understaffed and over worked . To approach someone who has done what he did and is still still holding the machete/sword takes immense courage. The taser doesn't always work effectively, this could miss etc. Two of their colleagues had already been stabbed trying to apprehend him. These officers do the Met proud, they stopped his attack at that point, hopefully they get the support they need as it was a hugely traumatic incident. The family whose son left for school and was murdered must be going through hell now, I hope they have the support they will need.

I agree!

And only took 22 minutes

👏🏻 👏🏻

I agree. My blood ran cold reading the story. They are very skilled and brave.

Shocking that this is what our world has come to now, and police putting their lives in danger on a daily basis. All look very young. Where the hell are they buying these swords. The poor family who have lost a loved one, so pointless and so sad.

Desperately sorry to hear that boy was killed on his way to school. The police acted bravely. What a sad world we live in.

Totally agree, incredible policing and such a tragic story which could have course ended up with even more victims if the police hadn't stopped them so quickly. Couple of very brave members of the public too.

That poor poor boy and his family, heartbreaking 💔

That poor lad, can't imagine what his family's going through. But yes, this was an example of police running towards danger to protect the pubic at some risk to themselves. Which is truly admirable.

Totally agree OP, and great post @ThatRoseBear

As an aside, is there not more that can be done to stop people being able to get hold of these weapons ? I mean, I realise that people can be stabbed with a kitchen knife, but so many incidents involve zombie knives, swords, machetes etc which have no place being in an average person's possession.

yes the police did an amazing job with this murderer and deserve full acknowledgment, however this does not change the fact that the police are a mixed bag. It’s not just a case of a few bad leaders and underfunding, it’s misogyny and racism bred deep in to policing through every rank, drastically effecting the service they provide to women and how they treat women police officers.

This crew did great today. The lad yelling "lock your doors" and the way they dealt with the killer.

Doesn't give them a free pass though. We have to stay vigilant. They're just another gang.

The police bashing in this country also has to stop, we are not America, most of our police force is full of people who want to protect the public, bad management, lack of funding and politics aside.

The police officers in attendance today seem to have handled the incident well, but we should not stop talking about the MANY bad officers/staff in the police force, many are under investigation.

I haven't/ won't watch to video, but I needed the police during a 5 hour violent incident a few years ago (person with mental health crisis). I cannot state enough how utterly incredible they were, both at the time and following up in the months after to check those involved were okay. We hear negatives all the time, but these people were calm, professional, friendly for hours whilst in a potentially life-threatening situation. A couple of months later they told me it was the worst incident they'd ever attended. I had no idea on the day, they were so in control that I thought they'd dealt with similar things many times before. Utterly indebted to them for managing the incident and ensuring a good outcome for all.

They're just another gang.

To me seeing the footage on BBC he seemed to be a loner.

How terrifying, that poor child and his family. Devastating.

Also the others who were stabbed.

Yes, the police were brilliant.

I agree though, where the fuck can an ordinary citizen get hold of a weapon like that?!

Many years ago, at the local corner shop they showed someone a huge machete that they kept under the counter.
Such things are obviously buyable.

The usual thing to keep back then was GSD's {German shepherd dogs}.
A large wolfish head or three behind the counter was a good deterrent.

That was back in the late 1990's...things seem to have worsened since then.

yes I agree, they were brilliant

Agree. Noone can credibly claim that the Met, for example, had just a few bad apples. There have clearly been systemic issues for the number of criminals being allowed to continue in the force.

Totally agree with you @boozeclues OP about the bravery of these officers today. Its heartening.

Swords can be purchased on the Internet. Like everything else.
Did they not have an armed police unit sent to the scene yesterday?I didn't see pne

They looked young and scared, also very professional to look after the guy's welfare as soon as he'd been knocked over by the Taser.

They shouldn't have had to put themselves in danger like that. Police should be sufficiently armed.

the one who tazered him was so brave

oh i hadnt seen that video
so shocking

They’re visible in the Sky video (32 seconds onwards).

It’s not a resource problem. Police have guns and strict protocols around their use.
And it’s a very effective strategy, we have incredibly low line of duty death rates in this country.

Absolutely agree op, and do think it's a bit shit their efforts are being overshadowed by the 'but/anyway OTHER police'...

and it was a female police officer we see tazering, there is another police officer round the side but she looked so very brave coming forward with her tazer