Armed Police Operations in Nottingham arrest man

Published: January 07, 2012 06:52 by Jon

I am sure that this seemingly innocent man is going to appreciate having his picture posted on the Internet!

Published: January 07, 2012 10:19 by Anarchist

Why exactly have you posted this on Indmedia? Trigger happy photographer are you? Maybe you should contact the Mail or the Sun as they love irrelevant picture stories.......

Published: January 07, 2012 10:54 by privacy

Please blur this man's face for obvious reasons

Published: January 07, 2012 18:02 by anono

hey i was walking with my daughter and actually the man arrested on friday well the cane he had was actually firing this from it as it hit me when i walked aroung the corner he walked right past me he looked like he was threatening some one with his cane so please until you know all ful facts , something hit me from his cane as it made a popping sound i looked at my daughter and made a comment to her saying w.t.f was that that hit me out of that, . i could not believe this when others said it could have been a gun ,, these items do sell on the internet to i looked for them custom canes . you cannot say it was over intense with armed police , I went off and on my way but some one must have reported him as he walked past them with it firing it at will so , you cannot write the comments about the city becoming a police state with armed police called to often . Not when you have a idiot walking around doing this , I mean if you were actually witnessing something like this fully would you not tell the police . you watched to late he walked past me and something hit me from that cane, ! ! !

Published: January 07, 2012 18:41 by Anon

Well if something hit you from the cane and you weren't injured it doesn't sound like it was a gun.

Published: January 07, 2012 19:43 by jon

alan has covered many stories involving shootingham and the bloody H&K gun factory there .... and here is their products in action. Please keep it up. They wont like it of course. and your right, there hasn't been ANY debate about the increase use of such weapons. They are now routinely armed I would say. Cheers and well done.

Shut Down H&K Campaign
http://www.shutdownhk.org.uk

http://Heckler & Koch « Notts Anti-Militarism
nottsantimilitarism.wordpress.com

Published: January 07, 2012 22:35 by And yer blur his face!!!

There to blame for letting an unwell man out!!!!

Published: January 08, 2012 00:58 by K

There is actual reasoning behind the photographs. I have friends who work at John Lewis and eyewitness accounts have told me that he came in with (what they thought at the time) was a gun. As a shop assistant myself, I fully understand this fear of being held up and therefore, if you take it from a purely human p.o.v, the shop keeper when ringing the police would have said that she/he thought it was a gun. Therefore, they react in a certain way if they believe there is a threat of a firearm.
This man may be the wrong one and the police MAY have got it wrong but don't give Tash shit for taking 'irrelevant' pictures. It was news that was happening at the time which no other news agency (that i've seen so far) has reported on.

Published: January 08, 2012 02:05 by no-one-imus

It would appear there are armed people running around with no identification. Can you confirm some/all these guys had no numerals? If so complain to the Chief Constable about it, and post any comments here. Thanks n keep up the good work.

Published: January 10, 2012 05:46 by Bob

Folding pocket knife? Since when have folding pocket knives had blades that are clearly 5 or 6 inches long, black handled and shaped like a bowie knife?

There's nothing wrong with having beliefs or an agenda, but not when you come out with them so blatantly. Your agenda against armed police being out on the streets is clouding your view.

You don't mention how 2 weeks ago a security guard at Morrisons was threatened and pistol whipped before the criminals made off with £50,000 from a security van.

The guy in the picture was reported to have had a gun, and he was caught with a bowie knife. Please, pray tell what the police should have stopped him with? Good intentions and kind words?

Published: January 10, 2012 08:41 by Curious

Are you a cop Bob? If not, how do you know what this man was carrying? It's certainly not clear from these pictures.

Now please take your ideas that are clearly clouded by pro-police bias elsewhere.

Published: January 10, 2012 11:17 by Beholder

If the police get a call informing them of an armed man attempting to rob John Lewis (or any other store), what are they supposed to respond with? Don't forget the police are human too and have every expectation to be able to protect their own life's, while being expected to protect the public's.

I wonder how you'd feel, if you had what you thought was a firearm held to your head while shopping and told to get on the floor. Just because it turned out to be a walking stick, doesn't mean you don't fear for your life when its pointed at your head and passed off as a fire arm by someone attempting to rob a store.

As for the knife, regardless of if it is a pocket knife, it still has the potential to kill or cause serious injury, if the user so wishes.

Published: January 10, 2012 11:34 by Sarah13

I think if the gentleman was at highbury hospital, then i think its more about protecting peoples identity.

Published: January 10, 2012 13:35 by Anon

It looks like there are a number of issues here and I'm getting confused as to who's talking about what. Here are the different issues as I see it:

1) Whether the police responded appropriately this particular situation

2) Whether the police should be using firearms and other weaponry as often as they do

3) Whether it is ethical to publish photographs or other identifying details of people who are victims of police action

My thoughts are:

1) It's impossible to say without knowing what information they had and what evidence they found.

2) I see armed police more and more often and I think they are going down the slippery slope towards seeing the use of arms as routine rather than an exceptional measure.

3) I don't think it is right to publish photographs or other details of people being arrested without their consent. Such photographs can be used against people in a whole number of ways and Indymedia should not be promoting this potential victimisation.

Published: January 10, 2012 22:15 by Anarchist

We all feal much safer now!

I have grow up with guns around me. As a child my farther had shot guns and a hunting rifle. I got my first air rifle when I was 10. I have served in the army. I've seen kids with guns on the streets of St. Ann's I've never seen a gun as a threat, but the man behind it.

I now feel unsafe on the streets because there are people with guns who I do not trust: people who are not accountable to the law if they kill some one.

What do I expect the policy to do if they get a report of a "suspected" armed robbery?

'Expect' shouldn't be the question. What we have come to "expect" from the policy is not always what we may want.

Had this been a real armed robbery the gun cops would have turned a robbery into a fucking blood bath. No matter how many shoppers may have been hit by police rounds, in the eyes of the public it would have been the fault of the criminal and not the police. As it was, they just got to strut their macho stuff, and intimidate a guy who's probably a bit simple. O! - and strike fear into the harts of the proles. Well done. (not)

Published: January 11, 2012 05:50 by bob

Are you a cop Bob?

Published: January 10, 2012 08:41 by Curious

Are you a cop Bob? If not, how do you know what this man was carrying? It's certainly not clear from these pictures.

It's quite obvious it's a knife to even the most unobservant/antipolice observer.
It's all well and good lamenting the armed police turning up, but nobody has managed to come up with a better way of dealing with someone who IS armed with a knife and who is reported to be carrying a gun.
When it's you or your family being threatened I'm assuming you'll inform the police not to bother coming unless they agree to send a really really nice chap armed with a smile and good intentions who can simply talk the guy into having a cup of tea before inviting him to return to the Hilton for a quick chat over lunch.

Published: January 11, 2012 09:19 by Anon

From your comments:
"Since when have folding pocket knives had blades that are clearly 5 or 6 inches long, black handled and shaped like a bowie knife?"

I assume you're talking about the close-up picture 6. I at first also thought this was a knife but it's clearly not. How would it have been held up in this position? And why would it be there? It looks more like a cord used to tighten the hood on his jacket or hoodie. The knife is more likely to be what is picked off the ground by an officer in pics 15 and 16.

"It's all well and good lamenting the armed police turning up, but nobody has managed to come up with a better way of dealing with someone who IS armed with a knife and who is reported to be carrying a gun."

As I said before, I think there are two issues here:

"1) Whether the police responded appropriately this particular situation

2) Whether the police should be using firearms and other weaponry as often as they do"

Also, you have to bear in mind the possible very negative outcomes of armed police intervention as pointed out by Anarchist:

"Had this been a real armed robbery the gun cops would have turned a robbery into a fucking blood bath. No matter how many shoppers may have been hit by police rounds, in the eyes of the public it would have been the fault of the criminal and not the police. As it was, they just got to strut their macho stuff, and intimidate a guy who's probably a bit simple. O! - and strike fear into the harts of the proles. Well done. (not)"

Published: January 12, 2012 18:10 by A passer by, as well.

How dare the Police just turn up to an incident with Firearms. So what that shoppers are in fear for their lives, because THEY perceive they are being confronted by a man with weapon and may about to be shot!!! Any shopper in the world knows the difference between a stick and a gun dont they? They can all spot a bargain a mile off so why not a stick pretending to be a gun? They should be prosecuted for their incomprehensible feeding of misinformation shouldnt they?.... But what happens, to add insult to injury, the Police, clearly falling for this misinformation and after cleary believing that someone IS in the shop with a gun, send cops to the scene, with guns??? Idiots!...... They should have just told the caller they were not coming at all because they were all just too busy or "sorry caller the cops with guns have just gone home, we will get someone to come and see you tomorrow.".....Or perhaps, just turned up with their Truncheons instead?
( they went out with the arc didn't they?) or, I know, even better, they should have arrived with a half eaten Macdonalds and a luke warm cup of coffee......but no, the Police, without any thought, just take the callers at face value, instead of being suspicious ( they are normally!) of the clearly vision impaired shoppers and turn up with guns?!!!!! .......... Idiots! .........Have they any idea how dangerous guns are???.... Youve only got to look at one (a gun) a bit funny and it will just go off at any moment into the crowd and cause the bloodbath that the earlier poster so rightly elludes to...... Wont it? .....Then.......and this is what really gets me, the Police, with those guns remember, that just go off if you look at them, start shouting at the man to do as he is told,......SHOUTING!!!.... In the middle of a busy street!!! In broad daylight, with vision impaired shoppers everywhere, cars, buses and members of the public who just happen to be passing by with enough camera equipment hanging round their necks to pay off the third world debt, (god for forbid, should the owner ever have the misfortune to be a victim of crime and it all gets pawned at the local cash converters, of course!) No, they got it wrong. What they should have done was just had a quiet word, so as not to disturb everyone around them,to stead they just caused some people around them confusion, making them think that the words, GET BACK, presumably "BARKED" to just bring attention to themselves, actually meant HEY GUYS! COME OVER HERE LET'S ALL HAVE A HUG!!..... No, a quiet word was the order of the day, and perhaps the offer of a Chocolate Hob Nob back at the station.....a lot less fuss surely than all that noise. After all, it was all for nothing wasn't it???..... All that.....for nothing......Mmmmm?
Of course, the other thought is, that perhaps as a member of the public, I don't have a direct line into the Police Station and Im not party to all of the facts. So maybe just maybe, I ought to be thankful that this particular incident, wasn't exactly what people who were involved thought it was, at the time I "just happened to be passing by" as well and that regardless of what the frightened members of the public, who were faced with this person in the shop at the time, thought they saw, the Police arrived, with the capability to deal with the individual should he present himself.

And they will always arrive with that capability to incidents of that nature, in order to offer the highest level of protection to the public......Some say we should be grateful of individuals that potentially put their lives on the line for people they have never met, others seek to critise at every opportunity. That's the way of the world and long may it continue. Freedom of speech is what this nation is about and this site is a great place to excercise that freedom....... But, I know who I want to come to my aid if I ever get a gun, or what I perceive to be a gun, poked in my face......and it's not the local Baker with an Iced bun and some pleasant conversation about the price of bread these days!....

Published: January 12, 2012 20:51 by Not convinced

Passer by - you're making a lot of assumptions here. How do you know that a report of a gun was made unless you made the call or are a cop yourself?

We've already had one commenter frothing at the mouth over a knife that turned out not to exist, so where are you getting your info from?

Published: January 12, 2012 22:01 by A passer by!

Wow! What a well constructed retort! And did you come up with those two possible conclusions to your question all by yourself? How unsurprisingly disappointing and narrow minded.....I'm a victim or a cop!!!!.???.....I bet you perused for seconds over that thought popping into your head.

Now, how many other news agencies do you think had information on this incident? Just this one? And how many other reporters do you think might have been just" passing by" at that time? Well i saw at least 4. You dont say what your role in this waste of taxerpayers money was?......Increase your reading material my friend and you will find information everywhere you look.the trick is to find the right information. When you do that, which I might add takes quite a few years of practice and reporting crap along the way first, then, perhaps you will understand that good nformation, becomes knowledge, but to only those who take it in a positive way.

Published: January 13, 2012 07:58 by Not convinced

A lot more ranting but where is this information? In your self-aggrandising righteous fury you somehow skimmed over actually answering the question.