Firstly, let me say that I never, ever, get drawn into debates over polies vs tea-baggers, bindings vs straps, staps vs strapless or any of that crud.

Not many things sh!t me to the point where I feel compelled to comment but for me this has really hit a nerve.

Here is the disclaimer: I am a dirty stinking rotten copper. I have given out traffic infringments on the odd occasion but generally deal with domestics and drunken brawls like Matt Butcher was responding to.

I understand an unbiased opinion is hard to come, by but for me, all I had to see was the footage captured by a bystander on his mobile phone.

If you haven't seen the footage involved, go to the link below and scroll to the bottom.

If you have seen it, are on Facebook and feel the same way, please join the group to show your support.

If you don't agree, fine, either way, thanks for taking the time to read my dribble.

The Link:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=627166171#/group.php?gid=56170398158&ref=nf

Cheers,
Brett

My god i hadn't seen the video before.
Scared the crap outta me.
Those people should be locked up for a very long time.
I dont understand, how come in that situation the police didn't get out their guns and start shooting? Their lives were obviously in danger, isn't that enough?

off topic, and I suppose one shouldnt read into the meaning of the avatar, but insomniac alcoholic? this is a guy who has a gun? and chases people in fast cars? he dosent sleep and he's pissed?

SmellySkater said...

I wouldn't want to be a cop that's for sure, that taser just made the situation worse too. That situation needed armed riot police with a take no sh!t approach maybe using rubber bullets, easy to say after it's all happened.

Cops are just tax collectors to me, they don't get payed enough and from what I saw in that footage they don't seem to be trained properly in hostile situations like that, maybe we should just call in the military for those situations instead of sending tax collectors in there.

My sympathy goes to the man who is now in a wheel chair.

In war it is deemed necessary to have a 3:1 unit advantage to obtain victory. Looked at the same way the police where at 1:1 and psychologically less as they do not look at civillians as people willing to assist them but just another that may potentially become involved. There is no training that the police can obtain within the time frames involved to become a police officer that will enable them to decisively deal with such a situation other than having a numerical advantage (or chuck norris). It angers me that no one is willing to become involved in others problems any longer- it is crap watching incidents like on that video where crowds come from no where but not one person stepped in that guys way to stop him from nailing the cop yet most aussie males will quite happily tackle people when put on a football field.

Saying that cops are tax collectors is wrong, traffic infringements etc are a very small part of policing and unfortunately it is the most public part. I work in security- we joke a bit that we are more afraid of the police than the criminals but every shift I go home and think thank god I can walk away from some situations, they can't they have to deal with it.

Dealing with violent crowds is tough, you have to have eyes in the back of your head and be constantly moving and not getting bogged down. It is something that comes with experience, unfortunately Constable Butcher will never learn. You are absolutely correct that the deployment of the taser made things worse in that it drew his focus to 1 person, and every other persons focus to him. Hence why I commented in the other thread that the baton is a better weapon tactically in this situation as it can be used on multiple offenders. At least one officer had baton drawn in that video however they did not hold it in a manner likely to control the offender, if anyone holds a baton or torch in position to strike and you know that if you take one step further it is going to hurt you think twice about that step.

Anyway it's all in hindsight and experience and not really the issue. The judges should have to justify their wages in this one. A police officer is put in a position of trust and power- in that they have to act in a manner that no foreseeable harm will come to the person they are directing therefore self defence should not theoretically be used as defence in court.

yeah fair call, Mark, I knew it was off topic.

arancini said...

off topic, and I suppose one shouldnt read into the meaning of the avatar, but insomniac alcoholic? this is a guy who has a gun? and chases people in fast cars? he dosent sleep and he's pissed?

Or... Is this a guy who has seen the horrible side of the human race, gets paid pittance to be abused by total strangers, goes home after seeing awful things (car accidents, domestic violence, crimes against children) and wonders if there is more that he could have done??????

I have total respect for the Police, Fire Brigade, Ambo's and the Defence Force. You all do an amazing job and expect nothing in return.

Keep up the good work

PS: The video is horrible and it is really sad to know that the system has failed this cop, and it has and will probably fail many more, I just hope things change.


Edit: Woops sorry Mark, I hadn't read your post fully. I have just pretty much said what you have