this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2023
18 points (95.0% liked)

United Kingdom

4094 readers
145 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I think it’s pretty troubling that the military may have to step in to cover what should be police matters when it’s not a matter of a national emergency.

top 16 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Oneeightnine@feddit.uk 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Perfectly normal island. No one can afford to feed their kids and we've got soldiers walking the streets in place of police officers.

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 4 points 1 year ago

Nothing to see here, move along now.

[–] MDZA@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Due you think the current lot in Westminster will ever acknowledge the path they’ve led us down?

[–] Chariotwheel@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

Of course, they were there, at the glorious beginning of the Second Empire. When order returned. The citizens of the British Isles were too long seduced by "freedom" and "liberty". It's time for a the closed fist of a strong shepherd to guide the sheep to the slaughterhouse.

[–] Syldon@feddit.uk -2 points 1 year ago

I trust the soldiers more though.

[–] withabeard@feddit.uk 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One of the most worrying things here, to me.

We have 100 highly trained police staff who do not trust our legal process to only prosecute the guilty.

[–] MDZA@feddit.uk 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’ve got quite a few police officers in my circle of friends and tbh, I’ve rarely heard anything good about the justice system from them.

Normally they tell me of cases where CPS will refuse to charge for what should be easy cases with a ton of evidence and when all the procedures were followed.

My suspicion is that this charge is political grandstanding.

[–] Devi@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

I was talking recently to a guy who worked rape cases. He said he hardly ever got CPS to take cases, even when he was 100% sure he had enough. It nearly made him leave policing. In the end he just left the department and went somewhere he had at least a tiny chance of getting it through.

[–] JoBo@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago

So, you know that the CPS often don't charge but, also, this is clearly a gratuitous charge?

And it is political grandstanding but the Home Secretary opposes prosecuting officers?

It's ridiculously rare for police officers to face any kind of disciplinary action, let alone prosecution. We will have to wait for the court case, reporting restrictions are in place so none of us have enough information to judge.

But we do know that the CPS don't prosecute unless they believe there is at least a 50% chance of a guilty verdict and, if there is any political context to this prosecution, it is the belated recognition that criminal officers have routinely been allowed to stay on the job.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 3 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The Ministry of Defence is offering armed soldiers to support London police after dozens of Met officers handed in their weapons.

More than 100 police officers turned in permits allowing them to carry firearms, a source told the BBC.

The Met Police said the action was being taken after an officer was charged with the murder of unarmed Chris Kaba, 24.

The MoD said it received a request - known as Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) - from the Home Office to "provide routine counter-terrorism contingency support to the Metropolitan Police, should it be needed".

The move comes after Home Secretary Suella Braverman called for a review into armed policing.

He was hit by a gunshot fired by a Met Police officer into the vehicle he was driving and died in hospital the following day, an inquest was told.


The original article contains 331 words, the summary contains 141 words. Saved 57%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] goodgame@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So unless they can shoot with impunity, they won't fulfill their oath to serve and protect the public. Feels like we're being held hostage.

[–] MDZA@feddit.uk 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not sure if being able to shoot with impunity is what these armed officers are asking for. It seems that they've lost confidence that the justice systems will treat them or their colleagues fairly after being asked to make split second decisions that could result in someone losing their life in extremely dangerous situations.

The police should be accountable, but I don't think it's good for either the police or the public that these armed officers hesitate to act in situations that call for their intervention because they're worried about being prosecuted if it all goes wrong.

Officers who were acting by the book shouldn't be afraid of doing their job just because there was an unfortunate outcome.

[–] TerryCustard@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Police losing faith in the justice system doesn’t sound ideal

[–] MDZA@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

Would definitely go some way to explaining why morale in the police (the Met at least) has been terrible for years and experienced officers are leaving faster than new ones are joining.

Why do such a stressful job if you don’t even believe you’re ultimately making a difference?

[–] sping@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

their oath to serve and protect the public

Their what now?

[–] FatLegTed@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year ago

Don't remember that bit from when I joined up, mind you that was in 1980, but I don't think the oath has changed in the meantime.