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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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:

Treelichen · 01/05/2024 17:12

plominoagain · 01/05/2024 15:29

So , please elaborate as to what you think they should have done ? You know , with your vast experience of highly fluid , stressed fast paced environments involving armed individuals who have already badly injured your colleagues ?

Do you know that these days , apart from the supervisory ranks , most officers on the street have less than 5 years service . Five years . I am a complete exception , but I've been the oldest in terms of service on my team for nearly 10 years now.

When you deal with an incident like that, it's not like bloody tv . It's highly fluid . It's unpredictable, and it's messy . Taser, whilst a really good bit of kit , is not infallible. I've known it to fail , quite a bit . Pava doesn't always work, and has a habit of incapacitating everyone including officers . Extendable baton works , but you have to get within his striking range which is highly dangerous.

So. He gets tasered and goes down, still in possession of that sword . Still got to get it off him ( I had a colleague stabbed twice in the calf trying to do just that with someone detained in the floor) The amount of adrenaline running is still going , and now you have to detain him safely without injury to him either . Of course it sounds confusing . It bloody well is , because it's real life, not the sodding Bill .

Some of those officers will still be in their probation. For some it may be the first really ( and I mean REALLY) serious incident in their service . And yet they still went forward despite knowing their colleagues had been hurt, and knowing the limitations of their kit .

Show quote history

I agree the lack of experienced officers is an issue. I agree that pava isn’t great either and sometimes does more harm than good. My issue with this was after the initial take down with the tasers, there was some hesitancy where decisive action was required. Probably due to lack of experience like you say but good control and restraint training should mean that this stuff is automatic.

It wasn’t bad but could have been better. Every incident is a learning experience.

Iwasafool · 01/05/2024 18:00

Delatron · 01/05/2024 17:02

Yes I was wondering what was happening as one police officer was shoving another towards him after the initial taser.

They were very brave (particularly the police woman who walked towards him and tasered him). She was so calm as she was radioing in at the same time as tasering. I sensed less hesitation from her than the others. It was a bit frantic afterwards. Understandable but I guess there is a protocol that needs to happen.

Show quote history

He was tasered 3 times, he was shoved towards him after the third taser. I can't see the rank of the one shouting. The female officer walking towards him fired the third taser.

Workhardcryharder · 01/05/2024 19:02

PostItInABook · 01/05/2024 12:45

Why is your friend telling you information about the injuries suffered by a victim of crime?

Show quote history

Because my friend needs to bloody decompress after constantly traumatising events.

Nothing she tells me is identifying info.

Maybe you should contact everyone that’s ever written a book about their time in the emergency services and have a pop at them too.

Now bore off

Workhardcryharder · 01/05/2024 19:16

Dotjones · 01/05/2024 12:23

I don't think we should praise them too much or let this one incident improve our perception of them. Bad people can sometimes do the right thing, but it doesn't stop them being bad people. Wayne Couzens sometimes arrested criminals and sometimes protected the public. That didn't stop him abducting and murdering sometone though. He was still a bad person.

We should remember to judge the police by how they behave as a group at all times, not just cherry pick occasional incidents where they just get on with doing a job that can be difficult at times. (It's the same with other groups like nurses, Lucy Letby for instance helped some patients some of the time, but was convicted recently for some abhorrent offences.)

Yes instead let’s cherry pick the incredibly infrequent bad things they do and judge them based on that! 🙄

ElatedShark · 01/05/2024 19:23

Workhardcryharder · 01/05/2024 19:16

Yes instead let’s cherry pick the incredibly infrequent bad things they do and judge them based on that! 🙄

Show quote history

It's not infrequent though, just doesn't make it to the media.

And yes I know for a FACT without outing myself as to how. The stories I could tell.

Anyway my thoughts are with the child that was brutally murdered on his way to school by a thug. Sending his parents and loved ones my condolences and love.

Glad the police were eventually able to stop him, curious to see how long he gets in prison.

Workhardcryharder · 01/05/2024 19:33

ElatedShark · 01/05/2024 19:23

It's not infrequent though, just doesn't make it to the media.

And yes I know for a FACT without outing myself as to how. The stories I could tell.

Show quote history

And yet they are still a drop in the ocean compared to all the good….. I’m sure you know better than anyone else though

Iwasafool · 01/05/2024 19:41

Workhardcryharder · 01/05/2024 19:02

Because my friend needs to bloody decompress after constantly traumatising events.

Nothing she tells me is identifying info.

Maybe you should contact everyone that’s ever written a book about their time in the emergency services and have a pop at them too.

Now bore off

Show quote history

She needs to decompress with her colleagues who were at the same event. It is wrong to discuss it with you.

TotteringonGently · 01/05/2024 19:49

MariaLuna · 01/05/2024 02:56

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?!

The internet. Freely available with a quick google. It's a massive problem.

PostItInABook · 01/05/2024 20:05

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

NeelyOHara1 · 01/05/2024 20:09

YANBU. Highlighting credit where credit is due is important as a counter balance to what can often seem to be a constant drip feed of negativity towards eg. police, politicians, social workers etc as otherwise the good ones will continue to get discouraged and leave!

Original poster

boozeclues · 01/05/2024 20:35

Just catching up, didn’t have the emotional capacity to read through the replies today.

My intention was to never to start a debate on the overall condition of the police force in this country, hence my “America” comment in my op, who have, IMO ,much greater systemic problems in their police forces.

It’s been heartbreaking to read about some of the injuries sustained today, a female officer nearly lost her hand.

And for the pp, yes they are doing their jobs, but they get very little compensation for it! What is it like £28k avg per annum for an officer? That is mental, front line officers are clearly not in the job for money or power.

Really interesting reading different perspectives, but can we just make this thread about supporting the vast majority of our police force please xx

OP posts:

MrsSkylerWhite · 02/05/2024 07:44

OneTC · Yesterday 14:04
FFS!! Can we not just have one thread where we can discuss how brave all those police officers were yesterday.

Start one.
**
This thread is about how you shouldn't criticise the police”

Is it? I don’t think so. That’s what it’s become. Don’t think that’s what OP intended?

NOTANUM · 02/05/2024 08:55

This thread has also made me feel sad @boozeclues . Such criticism of a police force which isn’t even armed. Not all Met police even have Tasers.

Never mind that we have barely mentioned the boy who died, a young man whose school, community and church say was an absolute gem. We aren’t talking about the injured police or how much worse it could have been. We are talking about how the police hesitated in the face of extreme violence.

sashagabadon · 02/05/2024 10:21

NeelyOHara1 · 01/05/2024 20:09

Hear hear! I completely agree , counter balances to the constant negative portrayal of the police is very much needed.

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