Police want Tasers
Friday 30th December 2011, 3:00PM GMT.
A Taser demonstration in the UK. Picture: Press Association
JERSEY police officers having to deal with a worrying number of agitated suspects armed with knives should be equipped with Tasers, according to the police chief.
Almost a year since taking over the States of Jersey Police, Mike Bowron says that his officers attend around 20 incidents per year involving people armed with knives, and that electric stun guns would provide another tactical option.
Mr Bowron – who led the City of London Police for nine years – said he was confident that a UK trade embargo, which prevents the UK exporting the weapons, would be lifted for Jersey.
He said: ‘I am pretty confident that we will get there. It is long overdue.
‘We have had quite a few incidents, something in the 20s, of confrontations with emotionally and distressed people reportedly in possession of knives. I have got a duty of care to my officers who turn up at these incidents.’
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why buy from the uk , they are not the only pebble on the beach. america must make them , and the euro zone .
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And how many have been killed by the police using this method?
Look to the USA and you will see how they use them willy nilly because they can.
The UK is not much far behind either.
Get a backbone cops that’s whats what your trained for.
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Spoken like a person who has never had to use their backbone to do little else than carry shopping! Never ask a question you do not have the answer to, how many people have been killed by Tasers? How many would have been killed had tasers not been available.
Why do you think that police officers should take excessive risks in protection the likes of you Bella? Not sure I would lift a finger for those with your attitude, stew in your own juice next time something rather nasty happens and dont expect the police to help!
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Dear clanger, having worked at both business ends of small arms, I believe I have the required authority and backbone. I am with Bella on this one.
Jersey needs Tasers like a hole in the head.
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OK this is a little long-winded sorry about that: You believe you have the ‘required authority and backbone’ what for? This is supposed to be a discussion on the necessity or otherwise of equipping States of Jersey Police with the Taser, what you might have is valid experience and knowledge you can bring to the table, whether you have shot someone in the dim and distant past or been shot at is not prima facie of any help at all unless you can demonstrably use that experience in the current argument.
When I joined the UK police in an inner city in 1980 I was equipped with a truncheon made of Lignum Vitae it was so heavy if I used it on someone I would have ended up on a manslaughter charge either that or I ran the risk of having it used on me, the next recruit in line got one so light it could have been used in fancy dress Punch and Judy and not caused significant injury. What else? A bullet proof clipboard that was in the boot of the Panda so you would have to get one delivered if someone was about to shoot you and they were a little small to hide behind.
To summarise we patrolled inner city streets with no protection and no effective means of subduing some idiot with a gun or a knife. To survive and cause the minimum injury to a violent suspect you need to keep them at arm’s length, even today with stab proof vests an awful lot of you is not protected. Trust me you can bleed out (die) just as easily from a cut artery in your leg as you can from a stab to the trunk area.
A Taser allows you to subdue a suspect at arm’s length (and further) with minimal risk to the police officer and hopefully to the suspect. The lawful alternative (subject to the rules on self defence and reasonable force)is on occasion to wrestle the extremely violent suspect into submission. I always hated that option as you would never know what damage you were causing, it is undignified and looks, and is unprofessional. You also have to document these actions and justify the same in court. More suspects die from close contact with restraining officer than do from the use of a Taser. Restraint Holds do not always work as they need to be instinctive, if you are to have any chance at all of applying one, perversely they only really work on suspects who are not out of control and not the real nut jobs.
Would a Taser have helped? Only very rarely, as you are often too close to deploy the weapon without giving yourself or another officer a bolt as well. Would I have wanted the option to use one? Possibly and on balance yes. Would I have trusted every one of my colleagues with a Taser? Definitely not and I could see where it would be misused.
Would a Taser have stopped me being stabbed? No as it was by a 16 year old glue sniffing female who was a high as a kite and could not be searched by male officers. I was just that little bit quicker than my colleagues when she pulled the knife and got the wound for my efforts.
Would it have stopped a drunk biting down on my forearm like a Doberman on a juicy bone drawing blood and leaving life-long scaring? No it wouldn’t. But secure mobile cell units in the back of a Transit van would have prevented these incidents and are now common on UK streets.
This is not about the backbone of the police officer, how tall they are, or taking another pop at non indigenous cultures that carry knives as a matter of course. It is about how we behave as a society and how we want our society to be policed.
What does my significant policing experience tell me on this matter? It tells me there are no easy answers and I don’t have ‘the required authority and backbone’ to dismiss another’s reasonably argued point of view.
I don’t know if the Taser as it stands is really the right approach, but it might be. What we do need is a properly constituted Police Authority as a forum to discuss changes in police practice and equipment and the appointment of senior officers, so that as far as is possible policing is by consent, we then collectively make our bed and lay in it!
At the moment the Chief Police Officer is only answerable to the Home Affairs Minister and a Scrutiny Panel can poke around if it can be bothered.
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nothing else but carrying shopping!!!!!!!!!
I’ll have you know I have been put in many dangerous situations.
I worked in ST.saviors hospital for 20 years go figure!
Punched and kicked grabbed by a male patient threatening to throw me down a long flight of stairs,how do you think i coped?
I talked my way out of many dangerous situations that’s how.
I’m no shrinking violet,so don’t give me grief for my opinion on the subject!
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I’m afraid Bella is way out of touch – much of the violence is emanating from our Eastern European friends, who have mostly served 3 or 5 years military service – yes – conscription is still in place for any 18-25 year olds who don’t attend universi ty – these “young men” are taught unarmed as well as armed combat, including the use of knives – our unarmed police are no match for them
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Clanger – What is it they say when you give evidence in Court? “Without favour hatred or partiality.” No matter what Bella has said, it is your sworn duty to protect everyone with equal tenacity. I am sure you’d do your job.
Now retired, I have over 40 years experience in law enforecement and during my service, I knew officers I frankly wouldn’t trust with a water pistol.
Notwithstanding my comment, I agree that the police should have the option of using the Taser gun, but only by properly accredited and slected officers.
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Pretty obvious you haven’t got a clue what is going on in Jersey – a bit of “backbone” isn’t much good against 2 0r 3 thugs with 9 inch blades
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if they are to be purchased , they must get a good deal.
this is why i pointed out there are other suppliers around the world and not just england.
also how many commemters have a a good drunken brawl with a couple of blokes or a couple of women for that matter?
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Taser’s (Thomas A swift’s Electric Rifle, name comes from a science fiction series) are made in America. What have the English to do with it? Surley the States as a soverign state body can get them, Jersey has its own sensible firearm laws. Nasty that the States Police feel they need them. But if a person starts threatening someone else with a knife, they have brought it on themselves.
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Get real, they keep telling us Jersey is a safe place to live. Far too many trigger happy idiots out there, let’s not make the bullets and give them the gun to fire it too.
Any officer worth their salt who is fit and has kept on top of their training would have no problem disarming anyone using the martial arts training techniques they are taught.
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You’ve been watching to many Kung Fu films. Try that in real life and your dependents will be cashing in the life insiurance.
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I saw some forensic photos of a highly trained martial arts cop in the US who tried to disarm a knife wielding maniac. I think he needed about 300 stitches. Difficult to put the pictures into words but imagine a cut right down the back and about 4″ deep.
Like Tony B said, its the stuff of movies.
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Tony, Jersey does indeed have sensible firearm laws but laws are just words. If Lenny Harper as our former Assistant Chief Constable was concerned enough about the non application of the law to swear an affidavit, there as a problem with the law.
Step one; get unlawful firearms out of the hands of convinced criminals.
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Mark, I have no problem with that one! Nor with a a great emphasis on the responsobility of those who hold legal firearms.
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I totally agree.
Looking back at the multiple Murder in August would be reason enough.
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Any number Tasers would not have stopped those murders.
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Agree with Mark. I wonder how you can come out with some nonsense like that. Either too geeky or not enough…
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Will this not just up the stakes – to guns like London and the rest of the world, all of this for a handful of people per year, how on earth have they coped until now.
Get a grip for gods sake, this is Jersey not New York or London, next he will want officers to carry pistols next.
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No Bo, it won’t up the stakes. The armed crime growth in London is due to exscalation among perpetrators. The Police are just left playing catch up.
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Stop faffing about and give them nukes, better still let them attempt a pre emptive strike and shoot anyone they know to be trouble.
Immigration/housing/employment solved in a single swoop.
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I have my reasons for saying this would be a great mistake but additionally I can already hear the cries coming from some honorary’s ..I want one too !!!!
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Thin edge of the wedge I’m afraid. Trying, again to justify extortionate wages. First it’s motorbikes which are absolutely not required & now it’s tasers. What will be next – Stingers?
The police really must join the real world. Somebody please tell them we are in a recession. When times are hard everyone must cut their cloth.
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Tell the criminals to cut their cloth. They have the best weapons regardless of the recession.
Perhaps the proceeds of crime when seized by the SoJP should pay for their equipment.
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The trouble with giving police Tasers is it starts of being a tool of last resort in life threating situations, and after they have got them it becomes a weapon of control with officers using them for the power trip (no pun intended).
Remember tasers have killed in the UK and USA.
Do people remeber the same old excuses were given when they wanted CS Gas. And do you remeber the Jersey Teenager making a phone call with his back to the police who was sprayed from behind at point blank range by an officer, because I do.
Where was the threat there… there wasn’t one. Once every officer has a taser they will be deployed with frequent regularity.
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Yes tasers have killed, but they are not used lightly. I have no sympathy for a knife weilding nutter being killed by a taser.
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@ Bella and Bo
Please feel free to contact the SoJP and ask to accompany them on a Friday and Saturday night to see what type of scum they have to deal with.
Then repeat they need to ” get a backbone” and ” get a grip”.
If there is equipment on the market which keeps them safe then they should be allowed to use it.
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Bella is right!
Go to LiveLeak and see the video ‘Federal Lawsuit after Guy Tasered 6 Times for not Complying after Routine Traffic Stop’…and see just exactly who needs to get a “backbone” and get a “grip”.
And, don’t think there won’t be Lawsuits in Jersey…more costs for the taxpayer.
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One minute we’re being told what a safe place Jersey is,the next the police want tazers for the ‘worrying’ number of criminals armed with knives.
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Let the Jersey Police give the nationality of the people using knives
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There are no distinctions if you are being threatned by an armed assaliant. And no race, creed , colour, sexual orintaion or social standing that makes them anything but dangerous.
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LOCALS AND ENGLISH read a bit JP !!!
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Lets just say that in certain Eastern European countries carrying a knife is common practice
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How typical… lets just say you have no clue about Eastern Europe of these days. The stuff you learnt about communism is matter of past and its safer to go out then walking down Mulcaster street on Saturday night. Also police is much tougher on people commiting crime-no messing around. You get 50 euros for spitting on floor etc. And police is well respected not like here so please before refering to Eastern Europe consider places like London, Birmingham or Manchester first and teach your police to be a police not puppets in uniforms
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Hello? Eastern European crime has gone through the roof since the fall of communism. Inevitably, that culture and organised crime will spread to wherever the people happen to go.
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No way .The police on this Island cannot be trusted with CS gas they have rules but dont use them,let them have tazor and who knows where it will end.More cover ups
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Just skip to the chase and issue Guns and Bullets ..Going to be needing them soon enough when the euro , UK and U.S economies go due south
The population of Jersey wont need to read books about the occupation they will be living it in real time !
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Tony B & postman plod, we are not in London, we are on a small island which we are told is one of the safest places in the world. One has only to look at the paper to see how many crimes are committed using a knife, very little with the exception of recent events, but a taser would have made no difference to the outcome of this incident as the police turned up after these tragedies.
A Friday & Saturday night experience will just prove that alcohol is the problem, which leads to fights and crime, why not ban alcohol, they wont as it brings in too much revenue for out government.
So yes, they need to get a grip on it all.
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Bo , Jersey is relativly safe. So is London. However both have tales of violence. Wether you like it or not, the States Police have to maintain an armed unit. TASER, spreads the alternatives the Police have at their disposal. No armed officer, despite the variuos US perceptions wants to shoot someone. They then have to live to with the consequenses. At the same time they have a sworn duty to protect the inocent, and a quite natural desire to go home to their families at night. A gun gives only two choices shoot or no shoot. If you shoot, the expectation is that you will hit the target. If the target was alive you will kill it! TASER may result in death, but then so may a baton, pepper spray or fist. But they are the exceptions.
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Although i will agree with you that most disorder in Jersey is alcohol related, this a) doesnt excuse the behaviour b) doesnt make a situation any less dangerous (infact is probably the opposite)
Only this weekend i witnessed 5 people getting arrested while i was walking through town. Most of which were for just persistantly gobbing off to coppers about how they couldnt get into the yacht (despite being p*ssed as a fart and dressed like they had just robbed JD sports) and not leaving when they had the chance. However there was one person who was using nelson street as his own public toilet. An officer pulled up and approached the man (the offender being quite big compared to the officer) he simply requested that the man put himself away and produce some ID. at this point the man took out his wallet and threw it to the officers feet, trying to get him to bend down. Now i cant think why anyone would do that if they werent planning to attack the officer. Luckily this officer wasnt stupid and kicked the wallet back. in the end backup arrived, just in time aswell as the offender started going crazy.
But my point is, even though they have training and stab vest etc, it still takes guts to get out and square up to a bloke twice your size when he is quite clearly ready for a fight. Why should police have to take this risk?
People have lost all respect for the law because the line of how far you can go before being arrested keeeps moving further and further. people dont fear the law or the system, a night in a cell and a slap on the wrist does nothing.
Perhaps the potential of getting tasered will make offenders think twice.
Whoever that copper was, if your reading this, Well done, excellent job Sir!
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who is gonna pay for those guns ??
maybe we should review down police staff wages ?? they are overpaid !! so if they have easier job now maybe they should take a pay cut ??
we are in economic crisis !!
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Policman with no gun Buahahahahaha that why everyone can do what ever they want the LAW in Jersey is ridiculous.NO ONE IS AFRAID WHEN SEE POLICEMAN, thay are like funny muppets.
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No problem with trained, full time, professional police using these under well thought out and established rules. Also proper procedures with dealing with those found to be using inappropriately.
Big problem if part time hobbie bobbies get to play with them. Some of them already wield speed guns like they are appearing in a Terminator movie. Let them get their kicks elsewhere, not with threatening the public with Tasers.
Finally can anyone tell me what happened to the ‘policeman’ caught on film at the battle of minden place spraying mace into someone’s eyes from behind? Imagine that guy behind you in the wrong place at the wrong time with a priapic Taser!
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Let me tell you Nothing,He did nothing wrong said the police ,this took a year to sort out,Another Cover up That is why no one heard what happened This is the reason I say no they act like cowboys now what will it be like if they have taser
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Nothing happened to the cop who sprayed the idiot at Minden Place because he did nothing wrong. There wasn’t a cover up as even the idiot didn’t want to make a complaint. Said idiot was using his phone to rally more of his mates to come down to join in (something I believe warrants a long tsretch in the UK). The officer decided that rather than use physical force and possibly injure himself, the offender or anyone else, just spray him. Situation solved and ten minutes later no one has any after effects
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Before calling anyone a idiot get your facts right a complaint was made that is how I know about the cover up. The lad was on the phone to me not mates,the copper sprayed from behind like the coward in uniform he was and could still be and you want him to have Taser. the gas did leave after affects .so the idiot is you for speaking fiction not Facts
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Scruffy, you are accusing the authorities of a ‘cover up’ without knowing all the facts. Because the individual who was sprayed was on the ‘phone to you, it is clear you weren’t there. You are relying on your friend’s account. The police officer was cleared because of other evidence that is not available to you. The matter would have been thoroughly investigated by the Professional Standards Department and a file would have been passed to the Attorney General for a decision, as to what action should be taken. Remember the incident occurred in the era of Messrs Power and Harper – these two gents had a reputation for being very robust with errant cops. Sorry mate; I can’t imagine there was a cover up.
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So, Scruffy, Just to understand the situation, You confirm that the person involved was on his mobile phone in the middle of a “potential riot” situation with two very large crowds of agitated and sometimes intoxicated people in a highly stressed and adrenalin filled situation where violent confrontation had already occurred a number of times. A situation that the police were trying to prevent escalate into something worse.
My question is, why was your friend there? Why didn’t he leave? To even be there at the time, you have to have been silly, so the comment of “Idiot” is quite fair from an onlookers perspective.
The Lad didn’t have to be there, he could have gone round the area, he *should* have left the area, he probably only joined in because of “mob mentality” and his friends were there also, it seems at least you had the sense not to join him.
So, despite the police asking people repeatedly to leave the area, the lad ignored the official representative of the law. Repeatedly ignored instructions to disperse and showed complete disrespect to the law. You call the policeman “a coward in uniform”.
So the facts? He can clearly be described as an idiot for staying in the area. An idiot for ignoring and having no respect for the police.
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Some people were asked to leave the area which they pay taxes for, whereas others weren’t. Those asked to leave were usually doing nothing wrong – they were asked to leave just to appease the other group and to allow the police to grovel to that other group, which should also have been asked to leave but wasn’t -because of weak-kneed political correctness.
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There are some utter scum bags on this island and I have no issues with the police being given tasers as long as their use use properly controlled and doesnt become too frequent.
If the odd low life checks out because they have ben tasered then the world will be a better place as far as i am concerned.
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100 % behind you
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Having worked on the doors of a few clubs in Jersey I would suggest that the police should use tasers, guns, cattle prods – in fact anything they can get their hands on – In recent years Jersey has become an evil place – all the do-gooders writing on this site should have a walk around St Helier at 2am on a Sunday morning and see how long they last – I worked as a doorman in Liverpool and Manchester before coming here – they were safer places
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I worked as a doorman in Liverpool and Manchester before coming here – they were safer places
Im rolling around laughing at this comment, Liverpool and Manchester safer places?? REALLY??
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Yes Chris – Really !!!! – fists, heads and feet by all means – but not every second idiot is tooled up like over here after midnight
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Strange, I thought (and quoted by our Chief of Police) that Jersey was one of the safest places in the world. Silly me must be the birds and the bees creating all the problems
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20 – Baltic Boris,
Your comments will obviously surprise the populous who have always been reassure by the politicians, that Jersey is a very safe place – are you saying it isn’t – what a surprise ! ! !
Besides which, however you look at the situation ALL police forces around the world that have access to tasers abuse them – proven fact, so Jersey will be no different .
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So present the eveidence of abuse in UK forces?
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The problem with the current situation is the police are bound by laws when the go to arrest someone. Hitting someone over the head with a truncheon is not an option any more. Remember even criminals have rights these days.
The point I am reaching when you have any reasonably sized adult male for instance wielding a weapon, the force required to bring them down is massive. Use CS you still have to man handle this now angry and adrenalin fuelled person still respecting their rights. The other option available to the police is to just shoot them, an extreme option in any scene. The last resort is to talk to the them, however this wastes a lot of time and resource.
Quick option, hit em with a Taser, scoop em in cuffs and mop up the urine stain. Get a civilian to write up the report and keep police on the beat.
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As long as they don’t give them to the honoraries!
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Thanks to all who backed me up on this one.
I firmly believe in preserving lives,not destroying them.
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How many police offices lives must be destroyed before you change your mind?
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And how many innocent people must be maimed and killed to keep you happy that the nutter knife weilding indiot doesn’t get a shock?
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#22 ‘Your comments will obviously surprise the populous’
Jersey certainly is ‘populous’. That’s the main source of trouble!
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It is illegal to import Tazers here….and why do they want them..? could it be that as they have taken to hiring on little squirts instead of big men, that they are not up to the job..when in essence they used to all have to be big blokes…it is an H.R. disaster all round badly managed by home affairs…we have large boys from all over the place drunk and aggressive in town…either hire cops who can man handle them or pack in and go home….we don’t want aggressive little police who could not knock the skin off a rice pudding electrocuting non compliant motorists as has and is being the case in the U.K. NO TO TAZERING…they have cause heart attacks and all sorts of problems….as you can not guarantee the wrong person not getting electrocuted.
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i am with the cops on this one
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I’d be with the cops if they pointed their weapons at me!
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Tasers. In the lowest crime country in the the europe. get a grip , these are toys for boys, they don’t need them, but they would use them on any body with more than three pints. CSR , have I missed something?.
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Good news!
What a depressing place Jersey has become.
Our New Years Eve was ruined by an Eastern European jerk, who punched my girlfriend’s brother as we approached our car.
Why?…because we refused to give him and his obnoxious mate a lift back to Trinity, due to them having no money for a taxi!
Refraining oneself from being racist towards Eastern European immigrants, gets harder by the day
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Interesting story. Did you report the incident to the police and did they arrest the culprits? What difference do you think the police having Tasers would have made?
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Three things that need to be dealt with:-
1/ Immigration/reduce immigrants from Europe
2/ Alcohol
3/ Controlling Licensees
Before you buy your Tazers
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We’ll buy the tazers instead. The other three are far too difficult to tackle.
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What is all this? Eastern European phobia? Why everything wrong has to be blamed on Eastern Europeans? No English man commiting crime? Or Jersey folks? Obviously most of people does not even know more eastern european contries then Poland and categorise everything from France towards east as Eastern Europe. Or perhaps England and Scotland is as one country as well as Jersey and Guernsey getting along well. does thick accent automatically says Im Eastern European?
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Agreed, phobia is fear but not here misused term as not scared of incomers, more a tremendous nuisance-the problem is, as far as I can see, that the various idiosycracies manned into a common purpose which would but operate for the obverse. In the same vein, the closed and overt door cannot yet be. The French would certainly fit that onto a Renault 4 with blown side exhaust pipe.
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Pitbull,
Perhaps if you get a free Friday night you could make your way down to one of the night clubs in town and stand outside with the door men and witness for youself the amount of Eastern Europeans being man handled away from the clubs.It,s not a European phobia it,s fact,also why dont you check the nationality of all the prisoners in La Moye and you will find that Jersey born people make up less than 10%.Ship all the rubbish out of Jersey, lets go back to to how Jersey used to be,SAFE.
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john l,
i know well what you mean and i feel very sorry for fact that there are such individuals putting bad name on decent hard working people like me- in last 5 years i haven’t taken single day off sick or claimed any sort of benefit and studied English 9 years before i dared to start traveling. I know lot of people doesn’t respect country they are allowed to enter. What i also feel bad about is that lot of people like to put those decent people in same bag with them idiots who cannot behave. Travelled around the world this is same case in every country- Jersey no exception. I know how you feel about it from your point of view, but please try to understand as a individual that being a hard working honest person you would as well feel offended. In the end of a day every immigrant is representing their own country by their behaviour and deeds. Hopefully at least Im doing it well as there is not many from my country. When it comes to La Moye i agree with you- ship them back. But in the end is up to States and Jersey police whether streets will be safe again.regards
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You may have a point John I but do not forget that Jersey has bred a few serious criminals of its own such as the infamous paedophile who terrorised the island for many years during the sixties and a few local boys who have committed murders on the island.You are either not old enough to remember these incidences or choose to forget the nationality of these people?
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Julie
Firstly i’m old enough to remember that evil b*****d Paisnel and there has been murders committed by Jersey people thats a horrible fact.But you have to look at the La Moye prison records over the last 50 years and you will see for yourself that Jersey born people make up less than 10% of the prison population.There has been more murders committed in Jersey by outsiders than by Jersey people, and as for paedophiles you will find that the majority who have been prosocuted in Jersey are from the UK.Non born islanders now make up just over 50% of the population and yet make up over 90% of the prison population?.
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I don’t dispute your facts John.I just wanted to remind people that not all crime can be blamed on non-Jersey people as we have had a few evil characters of our own.
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Usual racist trolling.
according to HM Prison La Moye annual report 2010. The following nationalities were “receptions” into the prison during the year:
Jersey-born 198
UK 51
Portugese 32
Other 33
http://www.statesassembly.gov.je/AssemblyReports/2011/49562-48662-652011.pdf
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Prison numbers can be officially skewed by the PC brigade. “Receptions” paint only part of the picture and you also have to look at proportions relative to the numbers of a given group within the population. It is obvious to all except those who blindly deny that what John I states is correct. Recent news events from this week and last summer would tend to support that view.
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Well said john I and quite true.
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Pitbull,
Jersey people have no issue with law abiding and hard working people coming to live in our beautifull island,the problim is the scum that land on our shores and destroy our island.There should be police checks made on every individual entering Jersey and if they have a police record they should be refused entry and sent back immediately,this also includes some scum from the UK.I put all the blame on our spineless politicians who could have brougth in stricter immigration controls.
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john l,
i agree with you all the way!!! still anyone entering this lovely place has chance to commit crime, so its up to police to preserve it to be safe place again!soft unarmed police is doing no favour to anyone!!!
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Nothing to do with race guys……a cop armed and trained with a nightstick should be able to disarm and take down any drunk with a knife or otherwise what are they there for….watch any Gendarme in action in Paris when the Rugby is on….”pas de probleme”…come on Jersey stop these jobsworths making mountains out of molehills.
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Last month, Channel 4 news said that the number of people shoots by those taser guns when up in the UK. Policemen tend to have the trigger happy these days. They showed a guy being tased at the gym because he was having a epilepsy attack.
I can see those guns being used every week end on the weighbridge by policewomen.
If you are a good boy and do not behave like a d..k head when you are pissed,you shouldn’t have to worry about them.
At around £300 a piece, I wonder how many are needed?
After new motorbikes, it looks like the Police s got a nice budget this year.( no wonder after being on the 1st page of the papers around the world for the wrong reasons)
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Less than a year since moving to Jersey from the UK as a J category resident, Mike Bowron says that our officers attend around 20 incidents per year involving people armed with knives, and that electric stun guns as used in inner city London and other gun crime ridden areas would provide another tactical option.
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Didn’t he also say, after the multiple murders last year, that Jersey was one of the safest places in the western world?
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Agreed that it was; Jersey certainly had never seen such atrocities from its locals.
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Of course this wouldn’t be as much of an issue if the Police didn’t employ little girls instead of large men.
I am 6ft4 and hold a black belt in Kenpo Karate. I speak three languages and hold a degree from a top University. When I applied to join the Police, bearing in mind I had a clean criminal record, I was told I was the wrong type, and could never apply again.
Shortly afterwards I saw people with barely any qualifications and five foot nothing marching around in uniform and in plod cars. The quality of recruitment is the first issue to tackle – some of them I wouldn’t trust to park my car.
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Hi Renegade, Whilst your description of yourself sounds quite good, the police need more than that.
I don’t know you, and I have no idea of the police application system, but the psychological examination of you might have drawn attention to some issues that make you unsuitable for the role. For all we all know, you might be a mental axe murderer in hiding.
Whilst internet usernames mean very little, your choice of “Renegade” also does not imply a desire to uphold the law.
Another point that may not have helped, did you do any charity work, anything to help the community? The Police are not all simply bodybuilders who can learn…
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It look like there is a fine line between recruitment and beauty contest in the police dept…
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They probably felt threatened by your level of academic and physical qualification. I am guessing as well that you are a local chap, which was probably another covert reason for the discriminatory refusal.
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You’re too kind Obscure clause; I am a local but don’t know if that entered into their decision making. You would imagine someone who had lived here virtually all their life might be more useful but such are the times.
I have been looking at the X26 model of Taser -it seems there’s an optional video camera attachment – perhaps we should support Mr. Bowron’s idea if he’s willing to have his officers filmed each time they use them, to make sure it’s done responsibly?
Any thoughts anyone?
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That would certainly be a good idea, but one which i doubt would happen…or if it did then times when the tasers use is open to investigate the video would mysteriously go missing or not available…
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The procedure to obtain a copy of the video would be prescribed in law or a “code c” type rule but you can bet that the police would make an access procedure as convoluted, difficult and obstructed as possible.
We all know that in Jersey the law might give you certain rights but half the time you have to take the particular body to court in order to get the law enforced.
There is an element in public service where civil servants deliberately flout the law, taking a gamble upon whether the complainant bothers to seek an injunction. Even if they do, the costs involved “only” come out of the public purse and the civil servant concerned is not disciplined. Indeed, he is probably “only following orders” and where have we heard that before?!
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I think that our Island community would be far happier, as far as the proposed introduction of tasers is concerned, if Mike Bowron discouraged the current aggressive shaven head fashion of many of his mobile police officers. It simply sends the wrong message,USA style and no wonder that the community are concerned about a never ending demand for those officers to be now equipped with US tasers.My youngest son, on a school ski trip in the USA, witnessed at close hand, a tasering of a middle aged non agressive Australian, whom was simply late for his flight.He still talks about the crackle of the electric charge and the convulsions of that passenger when he hit the floor.
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The thuggish looking officers do not look professional. Indeed, their personal appearance is such as to inflame any confrontation.
I can only imagine that officers who look like that are either inadequate in some way or they feel that policing is about intimidation because they lack the skills or courage to interract as public servants on a proper basis.
The thought of these individuals wielding weapons is not a pleasant one, clearly a short cut for proper policing. The other thing, of course, is that the criminal fraternity tend to ape police activity and create an equality of arms.
To that end, one imagines that these guns will start to appear in civilian hands if they are adopped by the police.
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I would imagine they have shaven heads to prevent it being pulled etc during restraining people. Much the same as the female officers have it tied back….I would prefer to see male officers rocking crew cuts rather than pony tales!!
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True enough. I used to work in security and I had long hair at the time. I got it cut because of the obvious risks.
A shaven headed appearance can be passable but it does become intimidating for some and annoying for others when it is accompanied by a swaggering gait, bravado and an unintelligent, neanderthal countenance.
The uniform is like a “swant” outfit these days. “Swant” stands for “special weapons and no tactics”, which is what this move is all about.
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Sorry for the long post
1. To all of you that complain about immigration: where we’d all be without the 50% of the population that has come from other places (and you need to add to that their children)? My assessment, they would be elsewhere working as they do here. We, Jersey locals, would be trying to live off potatoes and milk. We woulddn’t have profited from the selling of the land, the extra jobs, the education requirements, the taxes…
Immigration and diversity are ALWAYS good for a country. This is a well documented fact. Complaining about immigrants is blinfolded and racist.
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Immigration and “diversity” is not invariably good for a country and is seldom good in any case. It’s certainly not good for Jersey at the moment! “Diversity” causes all sorts of social problems which can now be seen in the “eugenics multi racial experiment without public consent” UK.
Futhermore, to disagree with the matter of open door immigration cannot make someone a “wacist”, whatever that term might mean. It is a weapon used by the left to silence free speech, usually by local persons. It also ignores fact, such as what happened last year and the case that is reported in the JEP tonight. Not locals!
Whatever the situation, if looking out for your island makes you a “wacist”, then I am one and proud of it.
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Who started this pathetic misspelling?
Not only is it an insult to one of Jersey’s most famous sons, not that most of you would even know, but it is also a very convenient way of making light of the fact that the likes of Harriet are overtly Racist with as capital an ‘R’ as the word can possibly take.
I, for one, Harriet, give my wholehearted consent to the creation of a multiracial society. For a start. I need something better to look at than the ugly mugs of inbred locals.
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Sounds like you are the racist, RdR, with your bigoted comments about the Jersey people. Harriet is right. So is John 1. What does racist mean anyway? It is just a weapon for people like you to use to support your ignorant and small views and to deny the views of others with more world experience that you.
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Think before you write.
So you wonder where we would be without all our immigrants.I wonder if you were living in Jersey in the 50′s and 60′s, i was and i can assure you i had more on my plate than just potatoes and milk to drink.Our island was a wonderful place to visit easy driving polite people in shops and restaurants,i can remember visitors always saying that people were so friendly and polite in Jersey not know your lucky if you get a smile?.High rise flats every where thousands of cars,extra police,prison officers,nurses which the extra taxes go to pay for.Our prison has about 400 inmates each one costing £450 a week to keep.Drug dealers,drug barons car thiefs and violent crimes every week,to see my island being distroyed year by year and stand back and say nothing,and then you accuse people like me of being blinfolded and racist,please get a life.
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Those who advocate multiracialism and its associations don’t speak for the majority. Those who differ from the views of these people are branded “wacist”. How do we deal with these do-gooders? Well, one way is to admit to being racist. The term is thereby diffused. They will be speechless and will have nothing intelligent to say anyway! Perhaps being “wacist” will become fashionable one day and then we will stop being scared of our own shadows in case someone, somewhere, usually from a long way away, might “take offence”!
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If you want to see where multiculturalism has got us have a look at the front page of Thursday’s JEP.
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2. If the problem is the use of knives by drunken people on weekends in town, tackle that. No increase in weapons make any place safer (another fact). Places are safe when the society wants them to be. Let me explain, let’s all agree that carrying weapons is not acceptable. Let’s make a public statement about that. Let the police enforce it, through rutine checks PRIOR to people getting drunk. Let’s spend money in hand held metal detectors. Let’s all accept that we may be searched on a Friday night. Let the courts impose big fines or community services or whatever on people carrying knives. Let’s all support this publicly.
I’d think that the number of people currying knives will drop immediately. Repeat the process if the number raises. Jersey will be a safer place.
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Make the punishments real rather than the currnt there, there, a pat on the head and if you are really bad 10 minutes on the naughty step. Hard labour and the cat o Nine tails might curb some of the current violence!!!
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Dixon of Dock Green would be turning in his grave.
The gradual yankization is sad to behold. What next Judge Dredd?
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