Shocking! Why you should never ask a UK police officer for their badge number!

[myusername]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/21/kingsnorth-protester-arrests-video-complaint

Check this video out! I only got forwarded this the other day but it is about a week old. It seems a bit excessive for the crime, I think. It goes to show how times are changing with camera phones etc being more prevelant. I personally have nothing aginst the police, they do a very difficult job. I know a fair few lovely policemen from my martial arts classes. However, historically in the UK there have been many allegations of heavy handedness (you only have to look back to the miners strikes in the 80's) and more recently in our G-20 protest. I wonder, with the advent of quick easily concealed video recording that this might finally be challenged appropriately.

I thought the officer used the mastoid pressure point to good effect though!

Any thoughts?

 

[arnisador]

See also this thread.

 

[Sukerkin]

However, historically in the UK there have been many allegations of heavy handedness (you only have to look back to the miners strikes in the 80's) and more recently in our G-20 protest. I wonder, with the advent of quick easily concealed video recording that this might finally be challenged appropriately.

Well for a start I lived through the miners strike of the early 80's (paying in what little I could as a starving student when asked) and that was an entirely different set of circumstances where special groups of the police were used to suppress the liegitmate concerns of the unions. That 'heavy handedness' was an excercise of police authority at the behest of the government (aka Maggie 'the Hun' Thatcher') that was not overruled by the Crown and should have been.

I don't know all that much about the G20 protests so I shall not comment as my news lead view was of a few troublemaking nut-jobs finding out that, yes, we do still have some sort of government here after all.

As to the current 'crisis' of policing, if these people were in any other country that England they would be hauled off and disposed of, appropriately, as representaives of a terrorist organisation. As mentioned in the other thread on this, I have the advantage of knowing, professionally, what these 'protestors' have been involved in, however witlessly. Conspiracy to commit murder would be a good place to start.

 

[Tez3]

Things are not always what they seem and the group is violently anti police. the group had a stash of weapons to use against the police. If there's wrong doing by the police it will come out as it's being investigated by the independant police commission.
The women claim btw that they were choked out.

 

[myusername]

Ah sorry folks, I didn't know there was already a thread on this. Interesting comments though and goes to show you can't always take things on face value. I will have a look at all your comments in the first thread.

Cheers

 

[myusername]

Actually in the interests of people not having to repeat themselves, if anyone has any comments to make on this video it is probably best to move over to the first thread as there are some eye opening postings there....

http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78007

 

[Tez3]

I should point out that the police in this country wear their numbers on their epaulettes and they should be clearly seen by everyone, you can ask for their numbers but I wouldn't recommend it if you are trying to murder them at the same time.

The miners strike did produce some heavy handed policing but it was matched by heavy handed strikers, there was a huge amount of machismo going around at that time. It was a time too when the miners found out that their womenfolk had minds of their own which stunned many of them. With the men out of work the women had to become the providers, much to many mens chagrin lol!
There was a lot of violence from all sides in that strike, 'scabs' being beaten up, police v miners etc. And Maggie gloating she'd beaten the working man, good old Tories.
This is a good article from the BBC where people from all sides recount their memories of the strike, I think it shows , as with many things that perhaps things weren't as clear cut as we thought at the time.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7924735.stm
I didn't pay a lot of attention to it at the time, my brother was seriously ill and in fact died in 1985, a few days before my daughter was born so I was tied up in my family.