The Ultimate Sacrifice

This week has seen the loss of two officers whilst on the front line helping those in need.

PC Mark Goodlad of West Yorkshire Police and Garda Ciaran Jones of Garda Síochána County Wicklow.

PC Goodlad was struck by a lorry on the M1 Motorway after he stopped to assist a stranded female motorist who had broken down on the hard shoulder.

Garda Jones, whilst off duty and in some of the worst conditions in living history, left his car to warn drivers that a bridge near his home was about to collapse. He was washed away in the flood water and believed to have drowned.

These two officers without a second thought for their own safety, went to the assistance of those in need. Something that takes place every day with every police officer around the world.

Is this bravery? I would say, no, it's the job that we do and is an everyday occurrence.

However, to be killed doing it brings home the very dangers that us officers face day by day.

Yes, soldiers face danger day by day, but with all due respect to them, if you sign for the Armed Forces you don't join to study the flora and fauna.

What angers me, is the total lack of media coverage for these two officers.

These two officers represent the majority of officers world wide. Those that join the job, serve, committed, professional and want to go home safe at the end of every tour.

However, the media chose to focus their attention on a Met PC call handler who "inappropriately handled emergency calls"

Whilst I agree that, yes, this does require attention, but to have on the tv full interviews with the IPCC and only give brief coverage of the two officers was simply not on.

It seems to me that lately the media only want to concentrate on the bad side of the police.

The riots, what we did wrong, the student protests, the sit in at St Pauls, Dale Farm etc, all concentrate on the "lack of police response" rather than, "the police finding themselves the targets once again"

Every day, an officer does something that can save or change a life. Do we hear about it? No of course not, it would become tedious as after all, if you speak to any police officer they will say the same thing:

"I was only doing my job"

However, it is about time that the media and government stop getting into bed with each other and realise that police officers are human. We have lives, we have feelings and if you push us we will break.

But we will always continue to serve

... even if we have to pay the ultimate sacrifice

Well, You're Damned If You Do......

So Mark Duggan, a man in his own Obituary picture shown on national news is posing using what appears to be his fingers shaped like a gun looking like gang signs is pulled over by armed police in a taxi and during an altercation a shoot out takes place resulting in one  officer shot and Duggan fatally wounded.

What we saw last night was according to one "witness" on the BBC "The locals taking revenge for the killing of a brother" and "The Police don't police our community they only turn up when this happens"

Memories of The Broadwater Farm riots in 1985 where many of the rioters were not even born or too young to remember were being tossed about by "witnesses" being interviewed on TV.  "This memory is in our DNA where Cynthia Jarrett died after police broke into her home" said one representing the "Youth of Haringey"  "We may have not been there but it's passed down to us"

Cynthia Jarrett dying is in no way even the same as Duggan dying and comparing the two is an insult to Cynthia's memory.

People on tv last night were calling Duggan "Their Brother" and even they said they didn't even know him.

Duggan lived by the sword and by the looks of it, died by it.  He allegedly shot at officers and therefore was shot at in defence and was killed.

Some bright spark witness on Sky was complaining that Duggan didn't have the safety equipment that the armed police officers had and therefore it was unfair and a reporter on Sky even had the gall to say "We don't know who shot at who first"

There are internet rumours going round that someone who knows someone spoke to someone who saw someone see a 16 year old girl allegedly beaten with sticks by police for no apparent  reason. What angers me more is depending on who you believe is that this was used as a "reason" for a full scale riot in Tottenham last night.

There was a protest about the killing of Duggan and the way the area is policed and this was presented to the doors of the Tottenham police station.  For whatever reason after that, it went down hill from there on.

Then a police car with two officers was hijacked and pushed into the road and set alight. This was then a beacon for others to start violent disorder.

The police were then lambasted by locals and the media for not policing the riot properly and their tactics used.  Some complained that the police were only targeting black rioters and some even complained that the police were too soft.

Damned if we do and damned if we don't.

What angers me more through all of this, is the two faced cheek of the government and media.  Suddenly to the government we have their "full support" and "no justification for the aggression shown to the police" with the media it was the complete lack of support and the cutting off of anyone who dared to voice support to the police coming under attack.

The media completely ignored the fact that Duggan shot at officers, completely ignored the fact the innocent bystanders were caught up in the riot, and that the reason police let the bus and buildings burn is because it was unsafe for the London Fire Brigade to go in and put it out.

The government talk about the "aggression shown to police" but fail to realise the irony of their aggression shown to police with the cut backs to the front line and to the police pensions and pay which are about to take place.  The "thin blue line" is so thinly stretched it's fracturing at points and last night was a case in point.  I think you can expect more of this to come.

What the government and public fail to realise is that Public Order trained officers and others like myself with specialist skills in areas including firearms are all volunteers.  We get no extra money and certainly thanks to Hutton, Windsor and May we won't be getting any more for a few years.

We can just as easily turn our passes in as easy as we got them.  If I don't want to be a Public Order trained officer any more I can turn in my certificate.  Just as easy if I don't want to do CBRN or Search.  I can easily fail to sign up for the next refresher or fail the fitness test.

If this carries on with the front line being savaged by the government and public alike I can see many officers ditching their specialist training.

Why should we face a barrage of petrol bombs and rocks whilst the ones that govern us and take away our rights, pensions and wages are sleeping soundly in their beds?

I can see many officers failing to come in when off duty, the sounds of unanswered ringing phones deafening.  The number of mobiles that suddenly had no signal.

We don't get paid a call out fee, so why should we come in?

One Inspector said to me that you could face disciplinary action if you are on a call out list.  Well, prove my phone had no signal, prove my phone rang at my home and not at the exchange.

We have enough restrictions on our lives as it is without placing me under virtual house arrest in case another riot takes place.

It's about time that the government realised that last night is a taste of things to come.

Mess with our tactics, mess with our numbers, budgets and wages and this is what you get.

A lot of innocent people cleaning up after a night of disorder and many officers injured.

What I will say is that it's going to make the Notting Hill Carnival an interesting two days.

911 caller kills home intruder

A woman kills a home intruder while on the phone with 911. KWTV's Jacqueline Sit reports.

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Could you imagine what would have happened if this was in the UK?

She would have been arrested for Murder, firearms offences and jailed for life.

If he had survived, he would have been the victim, sued her and claimed HIS Human Rights were broken not hers.

In America your home is your castle and if you fear for your life and you shoot them, the law protects you not prosecute you.

Makes me sick to the stomach to know that the Justice System in this country defends those that break the law.

Police officer dies in road crash

From BBC

A police officer responding to an incident has been killed in a road accident in Manchester. Pc Christopher Hart, 40, was driving a police van on Pottery Lane in Openshaw when it collided with a car, overturned and hit a set of traffic lights.

Pc Hart suffered serious head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. His colleague and three people in the VW Polo suffered minor injuries.

Investigations into the cause of the crash are under way.

The junction between Ashton Old Road, Pottery Lane and Alan Turing Way was closed shortly after the crash, at 2355 GMT, while officers dealt with the scene.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the second male police officer in the van was taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary but was later released.

Pc Hart was a response officer based in Bury.

Ass Chf Con Justine Curran said: "This is a tragic incident in which a serving officer with Greater Manchester Police has lost his life. "Our thoughts are now with his family and colleagues and we are offering them every support."

Chf Supt Jon Rush, Bury Divisional Commander, said: "Chris was a respected member of Bury division and his tragic and sudden death will be deeply felt by his family, particularly his young son, and his work colleagues."

Chris Burrows, of the Greater Manchester Police Federation, said: "We are mourning the loss of a respected colleague and father. All our thoughts are with his family at this time."

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My condolences to his family and friends at this sad timeIt's a worrying thought which must go through my head every time I switch the blue lights and sirens on. Is the call worth this blue light run? and I hope we get there safely. I would rather arrive two minutes late than never at all

Police officer dies after arrest

From The BBC

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a policeman died on duty in north-west London.

The 48-year-old police officer collapsed trying to arrest a man following a domestic incident at Brinkburn Gardens in Wembley.

Police were called to the address at about 1745 GMT on Boxing Day.
A post-mortem examination will be carried out later to establish the cause of death. The man arrested is in his 30s.

Other deaths

Home Office minister Tony McNulty said: "I am deeply saddened to learn of the death of a police officer while on duty with the Metropolitan Police.

"Events such as this highlight the dangers that our police officers face every day when protecting the public."

The Association of Chief Police Officers also offered its condolences.

Two other police officers have died on duty this year.
On 6 May Pc Richard Gray was shot by a man after attending a domestic incident in Shrewsbury. The man then committed suicide by shooting himself.
In June 36-year-old Pc Jonathan Charles Henry was fatally stabbed in Luton. A man is awaiting trial accused of his murder.

My sincerest thoughts and condolences go out to our colleague's family and friends at this difficult time.