As much as we piss on the Americans, we do need a proper legal system and a 'lil bit of "Fuck yeah"
Be careful of what you wish for.
Today's Guardian is everything I expected it to be; the left are using the riots as political ammunition (excuse the pun).
Hopefully this'll totally mar the way history views this Government. ....seeing as it's happening, I want this to stain the coalition's reputation as much as possible.
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/07/7292281-the-sad-truth-behind-london-riotmsnbc said:"Yes," said the young man. "You wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot, would you?"
The TV reporter from Britain's ITV had no response. So the young man pressed his advantage. "Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you."
In 92, they eventually put every cop they could find on the street in LA. It was far too late; it didn't stop anything until the National Guard showed up and was eventually issued ammunition. After the first few idiots were shot to doll rags by HMMWV-mounted machine guns while trying to run checkpoints and looting, it started to wind down.
The London riots are far past the point that pouring all the cops at the problem will help. One look at the subject to police officer ratio in London (or the citizen to officer ratio in any US city) will tell you that riots this widespread cannot be stopped by that few officers - not without the force they're not allowed to use and equipment they don't have.
Edit: Just for the record, per the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the overall average ratio of officers to protected population in the US is 2.5 officers for every 1000 people. Per their website, the Metropolitan Police Service's jurisdiction contains 7.2 million people and they have 32,500 actual officers giving a ratio of about 4.5 officers per 1000 people. Neither number is really enough to stave off city-wide riots without high levels of force being employed as a force (meaning number of people, in this case) multiplier.
I'm not implying you want a Nazi solution. I was just calling you out for what I perceive as being uncomfortably close to Nazi hate vocabulary.
More than five times the usual number of officers for a Tuesday will patrol London's streets later and the Met has confirmed it has considered using plastic bullets - never before used to combat riots in England.
HMV got looted... Hammonds books are still on shelves.
Is that a sign of respect or is the book that bad?
Using live ammo is probably a very bad idea. Let's not forget we're talking about a section of British society where illegal guns aren't exactly uncommon. When they start firing back, it could go really tits up. Or tits down, depending on your outlook.OMG a non life threatening weapon MIGHT be used! Geez, they make it sound like someone's bringing out the holy hand grenade....
And sure, they're still people but that doesn't mean we should let them go on. Shoot the the bastards and then maybe the people will understand. Life threatening or not, at this point the riots have been going on way too long. It's time to start doing something instead of just sitting around going "Well gee, we could use use plastic bullets." MAKE THE EFFORT!
I might object to the use of rubbert bullet except in exceptional cases. Principly because they are quite leathal. Killing people will just make the whole situasjon worse.I don't think shooting as in "shooting with live ammunition" will solve anything. This whole mess started with police shooting a man, killing more won't help.
Plastic/rubber bullets, riot sticks, tear gas, tasers, water cannons, the whole arsenal of riot control, on the other hand: At this point, no one can object against such measures, or be surprised by them.
"Considering" such measures, at this point, has nothing to do with "leftism" or "do-gooders", but just with the Met living up to their reputation as the most inefficient police department in Europe.
We haven't had any looting during the traditional May Day riots in Berlin for fifteen or so years, partly because police will confront the rioters with all the measures I mentioned above, eventhough the city is run by Labour politicians since forever.
As I said, killing more people won't help. Rubber bullets (as well as water cannons) can be lethal and thus have to be used with caution - in Stuttgart, a man was blinded by a water cannon a few months ago.I might object to the use of rubbert bullet except in exceptional cases. Principly because they are quite leathal. Killing people will just make the whole situasjon worse.
Start in the rich suburbs, rid us of middle-management types on their morning run.What about giving the police the powers to shoot anyone wearing an Adidas tracksuit?