Why did an innocent Brazilian get shot several times in the head? Why did the police 'ignore' Tony Martin's reports of crime being committed?<br>
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Having worked as a Law Enforcement Co-ordinator (providing the Law Enforcement agencies with data), as a support officer with uniformed officers for the 2nd largest force in the country and in current position for Correctional Education (Prisons); I have seen all too easily how mistakes are made.<br>
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Starting with the first job (LEC): A colleague is called out by a police force as they have a report that a young child is at risk of serious injury/death. They have a phone number, they need an address, we are the service provider for that number. My colleague looks up the number, it is in Liverpool, she provides the client name and address details. The officers go round to the address, the person living there won't let the police in, stating there isn't a child there. The officers force entry into the property; they search it - no child. They ask the man's name, ask about his telephone service. They get back in touch with us; a different colleague speaks to them. The number was pending connection at that address but had belonged to another customer, at another address recently. My 1st colleague hadn't picked up on that, the man who had his door broken down has a mother who is a solicitor who then wants to sue whoever is responsible for damages and the fact that her son then has to move from his flat as everyone else in the block who heard the kafuffle now thinks he is a 'kiddie fiddler'. Who was at fault? The police? They were acting upon information given which they believed to be correct, they believed there was a child at risk at that property and what criminal is going to say "yes, I have a child in here"? The woman who gave out the information? She was on emergency call out, believed a life was at risk, has a child of her own and wants to give the police the information as quickly as possible. Her line manager for not ensuring she'd had adequate training? The company?<br>
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In the 2nd role (working for the police): Plain clothed officers have to make a cash-switch for a kidnapping 'victim' (aka scum IMHO) who was taken as he owes money to a major drug baron and can't pay up. They are threatening to cut off bodily parts if they don't get the cash they want. The cash (many thousands) is put in place, other plain clothed officers have to trail the vehicle whose occupants have just collected the cash. The motorway is busy, it is an unmarked car that is following the target - they lose the target van, they radio to other officers but for some reason they don't spot the target van either. It is found abandoned somewhere later and as it was stolen they don't actually know who the drivers were. All the money was lost, never to be returned......... Even though the 'victim' was also a crook, the police had to uphold the law and do what they could to prevent loss of life. As it turned out, the victim was released unharmed.<br>
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In my current role: 2 lads at a young offenders' institute are from rival gangs. Not only are they at the same institute, but the powers that be fail to mention to the Education Department that they are deadly enemies and they end up in the same cookery class. In their first class, one of the 2 lads takes a knife and coolly stabs the rival gang member. The teacher holds the stab wound victim who bled to death in their arms................<br>
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As for crime not paying, tell that to the drugs dealers who are making £thousands a week pushing drugs. They get sent to prison, are taught a vocational skill so that when they are resettled back into the community, they can get a job paying £4 something an hour? How many of them do you think keep to the straight and narrow and how many do you think go back to dealing?<br>
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I've seen crime from all aspects, I am not excusing the people who commit them, on the contrary, but for some, it is all they know. There has to be a better way forward, I don't know if tougher sentencing is the answer but our prisons are already overcrowded and new builds are going on all the time to accommodate the influx of prisoners.<br>
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Yes, mistakes are made but if people are acting in good faith (like the officer who shot the young Brazilian man) then who are 'we' (press/public) to point the finger of blame? It is so easy to be armchair judge and jury. No, he shouldn't have been shot; it is the loss of a life as with the lad who was at Tony Martin's place. They didn't deserve to die and it is most regrettable. I doubt the officer who shot Mr Mendes is taking much comfort from the fact that he was under orders, from the fact that the target could have potentially blown up the tube and killed hundreds if not thousands of people - do the sums. The press has already come to their own conclusion; they have already given a 'guilty' verdict. Were I to be in Tony Martin's position, maybe I would have done the same - there is only so much one can take. Were the lads not there in the first place............<br>
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It is such a pity that we don't hear about the sterling work that the police and other agencies do but it isn't scandalous or shocking so it doesn't make the headlines. This country is indeed in a sorry state generally, but it could be much worse. I thank God that I don't live in Iraq.<br>
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Susie<br>
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PS Definitely don't believe all the press reports; they are not privy to all the facts. Take the young women who were shot outside the hairdressers in Birmingham one New Year's Eve; again, they didn't deserve to die at all but they weren't quite the innocents that the press had made out............<br>
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<p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=
http://p206.ezboard.com/bthetriumphdolo ... ybird72</A> at: 20/3/06 12:16 pm<br></i>