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The armchair analysts are out in force today. I feel like Policing is the only job in the world where everyone appears to believe they can do it better! Lots of people with absolutely no knowledge sounding off like an experienced public order commander. So a small thread for you.
Firstly we can't ever win. Whatever we do Ken, reading The Daily Mail online will bang his fist on the kitchen table and proclaim we've lost the streets and Sebastian will exclaim to his partner Jemima over his morning copy of the Guardian that we live in facist state.
Let's look at a couple of things. Firstly, the armchair analysts are making judgements based on 2 mins shaky cam mobile phone footage, probably edited for effect. Baring in mind the first calls were in by late turn and dispersal happened around 0100 that's at least 5 or 6 hours.
6hrs of disorder, movement, observation, tactics, planning, resourcing, standing around, apprehension, some fighting, some withdrawing, regrouping, more fighting, lots of standing round waiting, being tired and hungry and wanting to go to bed. But you crack on with your 30s clip.
Secondly all these keyboard warriors have never been in a public order situation, they have no idea what numbers of Police you actually need to control an estate safely. Does a PSU (22 ish officers) look like a lot, yes, but when outnumbered 10 to 1 or more it really isn't.
You don't know the intel picture. You don't know that CCTV might have picked up that round the corner a kid is handing out knives from a backpack or that unconfirmed reports that shots have been fired are coming in. You don't know how many total resources are available.
If you only have 22 officers and nothing else is coming, attempting to contain or fight a crowd of 300 normal folk would be mad, and let's be honest, some of the people involved in this disorder will be some of the most violent people in society, making it suicidal.
Also, brave Steve367892 the most violent fight you've been in was that 20 second punch up outside Sutton Wetherspoons. You don't know what it is to be outnumbered 20 to 1 knowing that given a chance they will lynch you. Mobs are different to a pub punch up, but ta anyway Steve.
The Guardian lot will be saying, "well why go in at all! It's just kids letting off steam" Well we've had over 100 calls from terrified residents. Poor folk who live on that estate, who can't afford to fix their cars if they get jumped on, who have to go to work in the morning.
Who have looked out of their windows and seen weapons and drugs and 13 year old girls being passed around, taken into the stairwells. And later in the evening when the fights start and another kid gets stabbed and we can't get to them because of the numbers. That's what happens.
And to all those people talking about race. The estates where these things are happening are the poorest bits of London. It is black communities being turned over and disrupted. You're saying just let them party because you live in a lovely converted townhouse 10 roads away.
When ppl get stabbed later it will be black kids getting stabbed. We can be honest about it because we know the disproportion of victims from those communities. You say Black Lives Matter, then you should be supporting the closure of these events because those are the lives lost.
We know what happens if we let these parties play out. Tomorrow we will get the reports of missing kids, child sexual exploitation, stabbings, shootings. So what do we do? We kit up as best we can, we fight and suffer injury to bring peace back to these areas.
Then the next morning we turn on our phones and read how we are cowards or nazis, nambie-pambies or racists, and we turn up for another late turn to do it all again. Would you? Could you?
Didn't think so.
So maybe, stop typing, shut up, and go about your day.
Didn't think so.
So maybe, stop typing, shut up, and go about your day.
