Duggan Case

[Dum-Dum]

The death of this particular criminal was merely the straw that broke the donkeys back, and caused the riots. The riots began in protest of the fact that black people are unfairly treated by the police in London, and larger parts of the UK. And clearly this was the case, as the police have taken steps against this, such as reducing the number of 'random' stop searches.

I've gotta say I can understand the riots on the first night in Tottenham, tensions with the Police in that area are ALWAYS high and this did push things over the edge, it was proper angry violence seen by the targeting of the police and the damage and destruction like the torching of cars and shops rather than looting them. I do not in any way condone them mind. The days after that were just about stealing because they knew the police couldn't cope. Thats why you wont have rioting now. Its too cold, too wet, people have too much of the January blues, they have just got new trainers for christmas so don't need to steal them, the sales are on so stuff is cheap anyway, the schools have just gone back and there is loads of police on. Wait till there is a re-inquest or judicial review that ends near a weekend over the summer holidays.

Black people aren't unfairly treated in London and its ridiculous to think so. The problem is where these tensions are greatest the population tends to be largely non white or even largely black and so if the police were searching a fair demographic of society they would search more non white people than white people. The other thing is if most of your burglary or robbery suspects in an area are black male youths then you are going to search black male youths if there is grounds. They have stopped using the blanket stop and search powers quite so much but they still do when necessary. The bit I like most is trying to increase the hit rate from searches ie searches where something is found or the subject is arrested or otherwise punished at the end of it and thats gone from 11% to 16% in the last year according to one of the senior officers thats been on telly in the last few days (mine is probably about 90% though)

In my eyes there is never a justification to kill someone unless they have a weapon pointed at you and are clearly prepared to shoot you, but I guess that's why I'll never be a member of the armed plod.

I've gotta say mate having more than once been in the position where I thought my death was imminent at work to have the ability to think clearly and make a well thought out reasonable decision under that pressure is seriously impressive as even though I can deal with pretty much everything every time I have pretty much just frozen with fear, when you have been too scared for your life to flash before your eyes you'll know what I'm talking about.

Interesting debate, if you listen to radio/ watch the news on TV etc you could be forgiven for thinking (judging by the screaming shouting hordes heckling the Police spokesman) that public opinion is firmly with the Duggan family, but if we are to assume the opinions posted here are a more accurate reflection of actual public opinion rather than that of the rent a mob outside the court then it seems the ‘man in the street’ wholeheartedly supports the Police in this matter.
We live in a country where people aren’t routinely shot on the street, I myself have never had a gun pointed ay me but then I’m not involved in crime and don’t carry / deal in firearms, ‘live by the sword die by the sword ‘ is a little clichéd but in this case just about sums it up,

Quite how the Duggan family intend to fight for ‘justice’ is beyond me, Mark Duggan wasn’t shot by Police because he was black/mixed race, he wasn’t targeted at random, he wasn’t ‘executed, he was killed because as a armed man running round London he posed a clear threat to both Police and public, he was killed as a result of his involvement in crime specifically gang activity, drugs and firearms, not quite the doting father and all round ‘nice chap’ his supporters portray him as.

This guy wasn’t a lovable rouge he was a nasty piece of work and while no one wants to see criminals shot down in the street and fortunately it’s a very rare occurrence but when it does happen the blame must fall firmly on the perpetrator, it’s like when grieving parents blame perusing Police for the death of a teen joy rider, they say the Police caused them to crash by chasing them, I say if they hadn’t nicked someone’s pride and joy in the first place they’d still be alive, people need to take responsibility for their actions, rather than blaming the consequences of these actions on others.

The Police have a thankless task, it must take some balls to approach a suspect with little more than a metal stick and some pepper spray, remember beat Police aren’t armed but are generally the first responders, and as a reward for putting themselves in a possible life threatening situation every aspect of their conduct and procedure is scrutinised by high ranking officers who are little more than politicians in uniform, the quote ‘loins led by donkeys' comes to mind

You seem like quite a reasonable chap and thats a pretty well written response mate.