7th June ’18 | Twitter @ES_Humour | Contact us |Visit our Website
Local Police Boss tells Officers NOT to share pictures of seized weapons on official social media accounts as it ‘encourages people to carry weapons
We were recently sent an anonymous email via our website, that contained a screen shot of an email that was sent to Police Officers based on a South London Borough, instructing them to refrain from posting pictures of seized weapons on social media, as posting the images ‘encourages people to carry weapons’.
We aren’t going to name the Senior Officer that sent the email, because our aim by sharing stories such as this is not to ridicule individuals, but rather, the decisions individuals make which seem to not make any sense.
It’s been quite a few years since I retired from the Met Police, but I spent all of my time Policing the streets of an East London borough whilst on a 999 response team.
Over the years, I came into ‘contact’ with a vast array of different people, many of whom I ended up arresting for carrying knives and other weapons. The excuse for carrying weapons has always been:
‘I’m carrying one, because everyone else is’.
When really, the best way of defending yourself from someone armed with a knife, is to run away as fast as you possible can (assuming, of course, that you are in a position to do so).
I can absolutely confirm, with complete confidence, that not one of the individuals I arrested whilst serving in the Metropolitan Police indicated to me that they were carrying their knife, because they had seen a Police Twitter account post an image of a knife that had been seized.
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They were carrying knives, because their so-called ‘enemies’ were carrying knives and they did not need to rely on a Police Twitter account in order to be furnished with this information.
My own personal opinion, is that the general public need to be made aware of what is actually happening out on the streets and one of the best ways of doing this, is by sharing ‘raw’ information publicly.
Police Twitter accounts are a great way and means of letting people know what is actually happening in their areas.
It’s always better to follow a Police social media account rather than rely on some sections of the civilian press for accurate information.
Surely, it also indicates to those who decide to arm themselves whilst walking the streets of London, that the Met Police are ‘on to them’? (when they are not snowed under mountains, upon mountains of paperwork).
Sharing ‘success’ stories lets people know that the Police are making good progress in the fight against those who want to murder people in order to ‘prove a point’ or in order to elevate their ‘image’ to their fellow gang members
As a result of the email that was sent by the senior officer, Officers also had to remove previous social media posts which contained images of weapons which had been taken off of the streets.
The images above show a very large knife(?!) that had been taken from someone following a stop and search that was carried out by plain clothed Officers.
Below is a screen shot of the email that had been sent to Officers instructing them to not share any more pictures of weapons which have been seized.
The email containing the images was sent to us using an anonymous email address via our website:
If you cannot clearly make out the wording in the email, it reads:
‘For the attention of anyone who tweets for PL
Please could we no longer Tweet pictures of knives seized or found.
In the past, this has been a useful way to get our messages to the public.
There is now evidence that tells us that some young people on the Borough are turning to carrying knives as a result of pictures in the media.
They feel that everyone must be carrying, so they have to as well.
We need to listen to this message.
We may well revisit this decision, but for now, please hold off on Tweeting images of knives.
Thanks all’.
We have hidden the name of the person sending the email.
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To me, at least, it sounds as if perhaps individuals who have previously been stopped and who have been found to be in possession of weapons may have come up with the feeble excuse that they are carrying their weapon(s), because ‘other people are’.
How this ‘excuse’ has then ended up changing the policy of an entire Borough is beyond me.
I doubt very much, that the individual featured in the main image of this article decided to carry a knife because he had seen pictures of seized weapons on social media.
More likely, he carries a knife because he has made the conscious decision to do just that.
If you are carrying a weapon, its because you already know that other people are also carrying weapons.
If you are in a gang, then you will carry a weapon because you already know that your ‘enemy’ is also carrying one?
People need to be made aware of what is happening on the streets.
They need to be made aware of the sort of weapons which are being carried and they should be made aware of the effectiveness of Stop and Search as a tool used to prevent, deter and detect such offences.
Certain sections of the media, and certain individuals trying to make a name for themselves by ridiculing stop and search, have created a ‘stigma’ associated with stop and search.
This stigma led to a period of ‘low’ activity in terms of the number of stop and searches which were carried out.
And then what happens?
There is a spike in people carrying weapons and using those weapons when they get involved in a fight, rather than being a ‘man’ and just using their fists if they REALLY feel the need to fight someone because, for example, they happen to live in a different postcode.
I am sure that the numpties who carry weapons are very thankful to the numpties that have tried to bring an end to stop and search.
Most people who talk down stop and search either have not carried out a stop and search in a number of years, have seen people being stopped and searched by the Police and have then made the assumption that such an action was just because the skin tone of those who they have seen being stopped and search, or they just have no idea as to what they are talking about.
I really do wish that those in senior positions in the Police would stop pandering to the criminals and would stop trying to ‘hide’ the issue in order to appease Politicians, some of whom do not want to face the ugly reality of crime.
Part of me wonders as to whether or not the email might have been sent, because individuals higher up the chain might just not want the truth about whats happening on the streets to be known…
And who would benefit from this misguided sentiment?
Criminals carrying weapons, thats who.
Written by one of the many international admins of Emergency Services Humour, who is also a regular blogger in our popular fortnightly satirical digital magazine – click here in order to find out more —>
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