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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To want to praise the police - London sword attack

139 replies

boozeclues · 30/04/2024 21:46

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.

Hainault: Moment sword attack suspect tasered and arrested

Dramatic footage shows the moment police tasered and arrested a 36-year-old man after a stabbing attack in northeast London.

https://news.sky.com/video/share-13126428

OP posts:
sashagabadon · 01/05/2024 09:02

Yes amazing even Sadiq Khan praised them and he’s usually v quick to put the boot into the Met!
very braze female officer plus the officers that were injured.
They were all very brave

Alittlefrustrated · 01/05/2024 09:02

Willmafrockfit · 01/05/2024 07:27

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

Yes, she lead and there was definitely an element of males hiding behind her - one pushing another forward!

ttcat37 · 01/05/2024 09:03

BoudiccaOfSuburbia · 01/05/2024 08:53

In a world where sexism is rife, women are brought up to fear walking to the shops after dark or drive on motorways by themselves or spend a night without DH (as seen many times on MN) I see this , rather, as highlighting that women are brave, strong, capable and calm under extreme pressure. She is so assertive when she says ‘Taser’. She comes forward.

It is worth highlighting that women do this stuff alongside men, come forward.

It’s a reminder that of course women do not just mop up fluffy stuff and should not be patronised on that presumption!

It’s not something that we should be applauding her for just because she’s female. She joined the job knowing that this is what she’s going to be doing. She also will have chosen to do a taser course knowing that she’s going to be in the thick of it for jobs like this. Saying ‘she’s brave, and a woman!’ is like saying ‘she’s brave, for a girl’. It’s patronising. They’re all brave for running towards a murderer with a sword. No need to mention her sex.

sashagabadon · 01/05/2024 09:06

Teachers and doctors also behave badly at times but do we tar all nurses with what Lucy letby did? Or the surgeon that was stamping his initials on peoples livers during surgery? Are all surgeons responsible?
no we don’t
some people completely hate it when the police do a great job which they do most days on the streets of London.

sashagabadon · 01/05/2024 09:08

And we should mention the fact the officer was female because she was and she was v brace. It helps change perception that female officers aren’t out there on the front line with their male colleagues.
they are and thank god she was yesterday.

Hereyoume · 01/05/2024 09:21

MojoMoon · 01/05/2024 08:45

Are you really saying we can't reasonably criticise the Met for employing Wayne Couzens and failing to follow up on any of the signs that he was harassing women and a danger to the public, because the force is understaffed?

Or we can't reasonably criticise the individual Met police officers who shared pictures of the murdered bodies of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry alongside vile comments about them in a WhatsApp group full of other officers (who didn't report them) because the force is lacking some equipment?

So just to clarify until the Met police employs some specific number of officers (how many btw?) and they have all the equipment that they want, you think we should just let officers do terrible things without criticising them?

Edited

🙄

Critical thinking is lost on some people.

Firstly, the Police hire people, putting a bad person in a uniform doesn't change them, you just end up with a bad officer.

Your logic could be used to paint every nursery worker as a potential Vanessa George, or every Nurse as just another Lucy Letby, but you don't, because your focus is the Police. See how the flaw in your logic is so easily exposed?

You can criticise the officer, but for context and balance, you must look beyond the one bad Officer or Nurse, and see the bigger picture.

And FYI, the Met is no different to any other force in the country, they are just as understaffed and badly equipped.

If you want some sort of saintly superhero in uniform, then you're going to have to pay for that. 30k a year, to risk your life arresting a murdering lunatic, is simply no where near enough.

Parrips · 01/05/2024 09:21

@MariaLuna that poster meant the police are a gang, not the man with the sword

JudgeJ · 01/05/2024 09:26

AppleCrumbCake · 01/05/2024 00:34

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.

There's always One who looks for the negative in every situation, any excuse to trot out the cliches 'isms', they must be appalled at any example that doesn't fit their twisted agenda. If they were under attack I assume they would want to check the officer's credentials first.

JudgeJ · 01/05/2024 09:29

Copperkryten · 01/05/2024 06:49

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.

Sorry, sod the guy's welfare, he should be in a body bag.

TheThreeCheesesOfTheApocalypse44 · 01/05/2024 09:31

They look so young too, they can't have been acting officers for very long.

And I agree with you op, this culture of shitty behaviour is always going to be a problem, it's rife in the NHS, care homes, social services etc. The majority will know it goes on and won't agree with it but keep out of it as they know what happens to whistle-blowers.......there needs to be a lot more protection for them and undercover investigations to weed out the perpetrators.

Ariela · 01/05/2024 09:31

LakeTiticaca · 01/05/2024 06:44

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 are getting more difficult to buy online, Royal Mail have recently excluded from their items that can be shipped. I wouldn't mind betting that their automated parcel sorting depots have some sort of scanning mechanism to prevent carriage & delivery of these items too.

YukNo · 01/05/2024 09:37

These individual officers - amazing. They did a great job. But it is after all their job.

Soigneur · 01/05/2024 09:43

NewName24 · 01/05/2024 00:21

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.

Sure - hold Amazon, Aliexpress, eBay etc criminally responsible for permitting the sale of banned weapons. Arrest and charge their U.K. country heads (they all have offices in the U.K.) when a weapon sold on these platforms is used in a crime - hold them to the same standards that you would a high street retailer.

Not gonna happen though is it?

gindreams · 01/05/2024 09:44

DreadPirateRobots · 01/05/2024 07:37

I appreciate the efforts of good police officers, but we should never, never forget that the Met had a serial killer serving as an active officer, who used his warrant card to abduct and murder a woman.

What a deeply unpleasant post when people have put their life on the line
Have you ever ?

gindreams · 01/05/2024 09:45

AppleCrumbCake · 01/05/2024 00:34

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.

Be honest I suspect you have never done anything brave in your life have you ?

tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz · 01/05/2024 09:46

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

BiggerBoat1 · 01/05/2024 09:47

Completely agree and well done OP for starting this thread. The Police were incredibly brave and professional and I hope they are now getting the support they deserve for responding to such a frightening incident.

Hoppinggreen · 01/05/2024 09:48

DreadPirateRobots · 01/05/2024 07:37

I appreciate the efforts of good police officers, but we should never, never forget that the Met had a serial killer serving as an active officer, who used his warrant card to abduct and murder a woman.

I agree, we should never forget this
BUT this thread is about the heroism of the Officers involved in this incident and we should also never diminish what they did and the danger other officers put themselves in (for lets face it, not very much money) due to the actions of other officers

gindreams · 01/05/2024 09:48

YukNo · 01/05/2024 09:37

These individual officers - amazing. They did a great job. But it is after all their job.

What a stupid post

DoreenonTill8 · 01/05/2024 09:55

gindreams · 01/05/2024 09:44

What a deeply unpleasant post when people have put their life on the line
Have you ever ?

Exactly, I expect this posters and others when someone praises a doctor says, 'yes but, we should never ever forget Harold Shipaman,' a nurse, 'we should never, ever forget Beverly Allit or Lucy Letby' etc etc?

Disturbia81 · 01/05/2024 09:56

Is this the only thread about this? I can't find any others

Fizbosshoes · 01/05/2024 10:02

I went to a party once where a (quite posh) man did his party trick of opening a bottle of champagne with a samurai sword. I presume it was from their travels but obviously could be used for much more dangerous stuff than taking a Cork out of champagne!

Fizbosshoes · 01/05/2024 10:10

More on topic agree that whilst it is their job that is (hopefully) not something they have to deal with on a regular basis and would clearly take huge courage and presence of mind and to act quickly to keep everyone else safe.

Runningbird43 · 01/05/2024 10:11

DreadPirateRobots · 01/05/2024 07:37

I appreciate the efforts of good police officers, but we should never, never forget that the Met had a serial killer serving as an active officer, who used his warrant card to abduct and murder a woman.

Who else did he kill?

MrsSkylerWhite · 01/05/2024 10:14

Completely agree. First thing that struck us was how young the officers appeared to be.
This may well be the way forward for the force, a new, young cohort to turn the page.

RIP the precious young soul who was lost. Thoughts with all of those affected.