Police blow up guy's car...

[Nickw1985]

I dont know whats more scary...the police blowing up someones property because they thought it was a bomb, or people defending the actions of the police for blowing it up.

[Andrew_C]

I have NO sympathy for the moron. Horseguards, double yellow, running from the vehicle; I'd be bloody suspicious!

 

Yet, I also feel that the "Prevention Of Terrorism" catchall has gone too far, as does an awful lot of poorly drafted legislation. Not a party political fault; I'm old enough to remember life under the other lot!

[DrPerceptron]

out of interest... would everyone who said "It's just a car" still, honestly, say the same thing if it was their car that was blown up?

[GrumbleDook]

@DrPerception

 

Personally ... I would say "It's just a car!", even if it was mine. I would also expect to pay some costs for wasting police time.

 

@localzuk

Ok, out of interest have you considered how many people here have done bomb searches? How many people have had to live with the idea that a car may be a possible threat and life is more important than property?

 

As for the Vehicle check ... vehicle checks are a guide to ownership, not cast in stone as fact. A change of plates for vanity plates can get messed up, they may have done a check and found it belongs to someone who would not normally park in that area (pretty much a given if they think they can drop a car on double yellows in *that* area) and the contact details for the owner mean that they can't get hold of him/her in reasonable time so the decision is taken (by a senior officer for this to be done ... not just a random PC) to eliminate a possible risk.

 

Pretty much the same routine has gone on across a variety of places in the UK for the last 25+ years ... it is just the way media write it up now. In previous years it may have been something like the following.

 

A suspect car was involved in an emergency police procedure today, involving two controlled explosions which resulting in considerable damage to the vehicle, and no loss of life or injury. The car had been parked in an area generally known for high police monitoring due to a long variety of potential terrorist threats, originally from organisations such as the Provisional IRA but now from a number of political and religious extremists. The driver of the car was seen to be running away from it and senior officials investigating authorised the controlled detonations to ensure safety of both the general public and those attending the Remembrance Parade the following day. The owner of the car has subsequently confirmed he was the driver and had left the vehicle in a hurry to attend a party, knowing that he was parked illegally.

 

It is also worth saying that the methods used to include explosive devices into vehicles has changed over the years, the magnetically attached plastic explosive is gone and the stolen car with a boot full of various things (along with gas bottles on the back seat under coats) controlled by a mobile phone is in. The latter is far harder to identify and deal with.

[dalsoth]

Police were right to blow it up. If i had parked there and ran off before such an event i would also understand why they had done it. Maybe i would not be happy but i would understand. I also find that when you are personally involved with something like this you kind of let your emotions take over. Best not to cloud things by imagining your own car flying through the sky in pieces with the police pressing the detonate button. Try instead to imagine yourself pressing the button and blowing up a police car. Now you all agree it was a good idea!!

[GrumbleDook]

@dalsoth

 

Oooohh ... blowing up a car ....

mwuhahaha

Mwuhahahaha!!!

MWUHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

 

erm

[localzuk]

@DrPerception

 

Personally ... I would say "It's just a car!", even if it was mine. I would also expect to pay some costs for wasting police time.

 

Firstly, does that not depend on your income? £20k loss would bankrupt me plain and simple. Secondly, whatever happened to Mens Rea?

 

@localzuk

Ok, out of interest have you considered how many people here have done bomb searches? How many people have had to live with the idea that a car may be a possible threat and life is more important than property?

 

Irrelevant as far as I can see?

 

As for the Vehicle check ... vehicle checks are a guide to ownership, not cast in stone as fact. A change of plates for vanity plates can get messed up, they may have done a check and found it belongs to someone who would not normally park in that area (pretty much a given if they think they can drop a car on double yellows in *that* area) and the contact details for the owner mean that they can't get hold of him/her in reasonable time so the decision is taken (by a senior officer for this to be done ... not just a random PC) to eliminate a possible risk.

 

That's the thing - if it *had* been checked up on, and the plates were dodgy, or the person wouldn't normally be parking in that area (which is a stretch to say in London, it being the capital and centre of pretty much all business in the UK), they would have been pretty much cleared to carry on. What it could have done is make it abundantly clear that it wasn't a threat. Your argument simply confirms what I said - investigation could have cleaned this mess up without explosions and potentially ruining a 28 year old man's life.

 

Pretty much the same routine has gone on across a variety of places in the UK for the last 25+ years ... it is just the way media write it up now. In previous years it may have been something like the following.

 

Doesn't make any difference. Reporting is reporting. The facts are the facts.

 

It is also worth saying that the methods used to include explosive devices into vehicles has changed over the years, the magnetically attached plastic explosive is gone and the stolen car with a boot full of various things (along with gas bottles on the back seat under coats) controlled by a mobile phone is in. The latter is far harder to identify and deal with.

 

Again, irrelevant. We're not talking about hours of work here for the police. We're talking about the equivalent of a stop check followed by a phone call. 30 minutes tops.

 

Still amazed that people are defending these actions.

[russdev]

I am not going to comment on if right not for the police to blow the car up.

 

But I do wonder would certainly stop people parking on double yellow lines if you blew the car up instead of towing it maybe people might think before they go and park on them. Also same for non-disabled badge owners parking in disabled spaces.

 

Russ

[dalsoth]

Was looking at some old photographs of my town the other day when they still used horse and carts and there was perhaps only one vehicle in any of the photos. Looked so spacious and alien, roads i have travelled all my life but completely different because of an absence of vehicles.

 

Lets blow them all up. We can build some underground motorways up and down the country and leave the above ground for beauty instead.

[DrPerceptron]

http://images.oddlyspecific.com/oddlyspecific/2009/11/fpsrsly.jpg

 

Perhaps this would help in the area?

[GrumbleDook]

snipped a lot of mention of supposed irrelevancy

 

Can I ask you if you have ever had anything to do with vehicle security checks? Do you know the process for identifying a possible targeted car? Have you had training in this, experience in it or know people who are? I ask this because it is hard to say something is irrelevant if you really are struggling to see it from both sides.

 

1) The news article is a bit sketchy on a few things and people could jump to conclusions about timescales. The fact that they had chance to review CCTV would also suggest that there was sufficient time to make the phone calls to verify the ownership of the car and even attempt to contact the owner ... but, since the owner has already admitted that he was out celebrating a friend's birthday it sort of suggests that the car was there for some time.

 

2) No terrorist threat is dealt with lightly and choices about controlled explosions are made by experienced senior officers. It is done after careful consideration. Investigations take place before the authorisation is given and how in-depth these are depends on how high the potential risk is. Please try not to label it as irrelevant as this is an important part of this case and when you only know one side of it (not helped by the police not making comment) you really are basing your whole hypothesis from limited facts.

 

3) If you honestly believe that the spin and the way it is reported is irrelevant and that 'facts are facts' then I seriously think you are missing how the media works. I can think of plenty of examples where how it is reported makes all the difference on how people feel about something.

 

To tell the truth I don't think either of us is going to budge on this. I'm coming from a position of possibly have a bit more understanding of why the decision was made, and you are more sensitive to the owner's plight than I would likely be.

[tech_guy]

I'd blow cars up in this situation every time. And I'd blow cars up with people still in them if they flipped cigarette butts out into the road, used mobile phones whilst driving, and cut across lanes whilst negotiating roundabouts...

[mattx]

To hell with just cars, lets blow everything up.

[GrumbleDook]

To hell with just cars, lets blow everything up.

 

But not Geoff ... how will the internet run without him?

[dalsoth]

I am currently designing the latest new Edugeek project - Edubomb. I hope to have a working prototype ready within the week. Download will be of course unavailable but the mods have kindly agreed that we can mail them out to those who are interested. Of course this is an open source project so i will shortly post the source documents on sourceforge. Developers and programmers are welcome to PM me with requests to join the project.

 

 

Of course this is totally a joke and those without a sense of humour should not apply:D

[mattx]

But not Geoff ... how will the internet run without him?

 

Better ? May run a bit faster......

[tech_guy]

To hell with just cars, lets blow everything up.

 

I was lauging so much at your post I had difficulty clicking on the thanks button!

[mattx]

I was lauging so much at your post I had difficulty clicking on the thanks button!

 

I just have problems clicking on anything at the moment. I think they call it being pi$$ed.

[Andrew_C]

Of course this is totally a joke and those without a sense of humour should not apply:D

Echelon doesn't have a sense of humour; expect the black helicopters about... NOW! (07:06... to darned early to be up!)

[mattx]

I have the vision of the Monty Python sketch "How not to be seen" where everything gets blown up.

 

Ah ha !! Someone who thinks like me !! Thats two people I have discovered on here then.....