Knuckle rap for riot shield sledging coppers A group of Oxfordshire coppers caught on camera using a riot shield as an improvised sledge have had their knuckles rapped by their unimpressed superintendent: The original vid was posted on YouTube by Rick Latham, who was on Boars Hill, Oxford, on Tuesday when a group of officers approached him. He told BBC news: "I …
Surely this is just the right thing for the Police to show at times, it lets people know that Police Officers are human too and not stoney faced authoritarian figues. If I saw a could of policeman having a quick go at sledging with the public I would be amused not outraged.
Admitedly using a riot shield was probably not the best idea, but hey....better that than the usual reason it is taken out of the van.
I'd much rather see friendly coppers doing their jobs by keeping an eye on kids out of schools closed by snow also having a bit of fun with their riot shields, than the injury on my son's face which occurred when he was attending a peaceful climate camp demo and was attacked by a police constable with removed shoulder numbers using his riot shield as an offensive weapon. On that occasion out of control police also attacked a newspaper vendor who later died .
good for community relations
Superintendant is a dick
i know i know what if he broke the shield or a bone etc etc
ITS LIFE NOW GET ON WITH IT !!!!!!!
he can pay for the shield (which i personally would be worried if it broke cause its supposed to stop brick projectiles and cave in heads )
Keeps on sledding bobby's
Maybe their super suspected them of playing Speed Beer?
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1386
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1389
I would have thought that they would have been able to justify this as something like 'community outreach'. It's quite refreshing to have the police use riot shields with you rather than against you.
Unfortunately it seems that, while the plod are human beings, the ones in charge certainly aren't.
I dread to think how those occasionally extremely jovial coppers at Notting Hill Carnival and other public events are perceived by their commanders. Don't they realise that the public actually prefer to see the police revealed as only human ?
These coppers could have gone one better ... I'm thinking of "Mossley Dome Riding" from up t'north way back in the 70's - tie a dustbin lid to a vehicle and go land-surfing. That's a much better use of a riot shield and a tactical support vehicle than many others I can think of.
Its a pleasant change to see the police joining in with the community they should be commended for generating goodwill, but i assume they were really reprimanded for not beating they guy doing the filming to a pulp stealing his camera phone, arresting him and putting him on the dna database.
Nothing wrong with what these cops did.... At the end of the day like others have said its nice to see them interacting with the public.
Supt Andrew Murray should get it own arse out of the office, get on the street and do things like that... then and maybe then the public may get on the side of the cops.
I'm not surprised the Superintendent is annoyed. He will have to employ someone to create an entirely new form for the officers to fill out. That and he will get a kicking from health and safety over the illegal use of a riot shield. I can see those officers wasting more time filling out forms about the incident than they did doing the actual sledging!
.. for wasting the benefits that the jolly coppers brought to public relations.
Or maybe that's precisely the problem - somewhere a pork barrel public relations consultant has just found himself having to explain fees when a bunch of coppers behave like normal human beings and get almost universal praise for it.
Off with his head! No, wait, wrong century..
and use their own equipment. Of course Police are human, and that makes them fallible. Problem is the laws are just ridiculous, so the Police spend most of their time running around doing useless stuff at the beck and call of their political masters.
Wasn't there a murder to solve or an accident to attend, probably the later with the snow. All very amusing until you realise someone may have been dying of hypothermia in an upturned car. Police sledge whilst UK freezes.
Lets not forget that Supt. Murray only reminded them, and not reprimanded. Lets be honest, he had to be seen to be taking some kind of action, otherwise he'd be facing the backlash of the Daily Mail readership. Which he probably already is anyway, since they'll be still be expecting these police officers heads on a stick. 'Torture is too good for 'em' & ' Too busy fooling about, letting all the foreign rapists roam free' etc etc.. Besides, he probably had a laugh at the video too.
On the other hand, my boss would have sacked me instantly if he had seen just how many pirouette's my company vehicle can do in his company car park the other week...
No time to look for my bike that got nicked but plenty of time for sledging hey?
I'm so glad my taxes are paying for them to go sledging during work time instead of helping the elderly do their shopping or clear their paths in all this snow. Wonder if you'd like your water rates to pay for me to go sledging too?
I'm with Supt Andrew Murray on this one, do some work you lazy layabouts
Since we are now reprimanding policemen for improper use of riot shields I expect we will see full public reprimands of the G20 officers who used the edges of their shields to batter down unarmed protesters from behind?
No? How odd.
Its depressing that a group of coppers actually showing a human side are reprimanded with far more speed than officers who beat up or even kill civilians. Good on this lot - nice to know there are still some human beings inside those uniforms.
The guy knows how to publish a story. Stage a publicity shot talking about coppers doing good for the community? Only a soft-news local rag will cover it.
On the other hand, if he publicly denounces what they've done - even though smiling inside and offering to buy them all a pint at the weekend - bam! National news coverage of policemen being nice, friendly, and very much the mythical "bobbies on the beat".
This guy would make a shrewd politician.
Although, like most commentators here, I think Supt Andrew Murray needs to lighten up a bit, there is a potentially sinister aspect to this...
When global warming really kicks in and the Gulf Stream switches off, the UK will see more winters like this. Want to know how the police will go into battle against the massed ranks of warrior eco-hippies whilst up to their ankles in snow? These seemingly playful bobbies have shown the way. This isn't innocent fun but training material.
Showed this on New24 this morning, the guy that was doing the weather straight after this clip was shown was laughing and saying "why not, it's only a bit of harmless fun, I'd have done it myself yesterday if I had the time"
I'd say if it was a member of the public going down on the shield (stop sniggering at the back) it would have been a little different but come on... opportunities knock...
You lot saying that he should lighten up, will be the first to say "Police should stop wasting our time and money on this trivial..." whatever it is, next time they do something you lot don't agree with!
They can't win can they?!?
Sorry but in this instance, they should have set a more mature example while on duty. When the shift finishes, chuck your selves down Box Hill on a tea-tray for all I care, but when I am paying your wages, act like you should and stop wating my time and money!
"I'd be amazed if there's a single person in this country who hasn't themselves taken a few minutes from work either turning up late, going a few minutes early, taking a slightly longer lunch than they intended, going for a smoke break, browsing the Internet, taking personal phone calls, having personal conversations, making themselves a cup of tea and so on."
you have just described the day to day activity of 90% of the work force at the factory where I work Oh and Supt Murray get a life this was good community relations.
I'm going to refrain from bashing the Senior Officer. As a matter of policy and police discipline a public reprimand goes a long way. What he said to them in private and the fact that no disciplinary action was taken; gives some clue as to the good Supt. real feelings on the matter.
But that did make my day.
I'm surprised they didn't round off their mornings fun by giving the guy filming a good section fifty-eighting.
The police should attempt to draw a useful lesson from this - we really do want to like them if they would only give us a reason. Comments on the police related stories on these pages are invariably 90 percent negative toward the police, often vehemently so. Yet one little 'cuddly copper' story (about coppers with riot shields very conveniently to hand in rural Nowhereshire) and we all go a bit gooey, forgiving and start seeing them as human after all. A little less zero tolerance and a bit more common sense might work wonders on the public attitude and reduce the growing contempt in which they are now held. A little demonstrable humanity goes a long way.
rather see them engaging members of the community than tasing, shooting or kettling them.
Police management really really stink at PR!
This is what the public want to an extent, police being visible and present in thier communities, looking out for the public interest rather than the companies and organisations that made the right political donations.
Perhaps just just got done doing a house invasion clearing up druggies,pimps and illegals and they are breaking the ice to feel normal again from the high stress that they were just in.
So psychological wise this is an awsome stress buster.
But then again it could be a new hire who just wants to scratch his shield so he won't look like a noob/greenback to other fellow officers.
"Perhaps just just got done doing a house invasion clearing up druggies,pimps and illegals"
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Yes, and after they were done busting their stress they went to catch some burglars (and returned the stolen property), clipped some loitering hoodies round the ear, and gave the time of day to a young lady without truncheoning her in the face and calling her a c--t.
Which decade do you live in and can I come live there?
…should send a link to these comments to that superintendant.
It will show that miserable sod how out of touch he is with public opinion.
I like many others here thinbk it is refreshing to see officers spending a few minutes to conect with the public and show a lighter sode to their nature, there will be plenty of time to look all mean and nasty when they have criminals to arrest.
I have to say i think i would have laughed sooo hard if i had seen this.
Nice to see the human side of policing for a change.
mind you would a really good run get a score of .....9.....9.......9 lol.
Hats off to them, personally id like to shake them by the hand and buy em each a pint !!
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