There was a massive lack of Police presence, which of course, is due to the private security firm hired to man the event. They did real good in reducing crime (Y)! Well done.
A friend of mine was mugged for his point &shoot compact camera, then beaten by a bunch of youths. When he approached the Police (who were standing around the perimeter of the park) he was simply told "oh, yeah there's been a lot of that, there's not much you can do" now, i'm no expert in dealing with the Police, but i'm pretty sure that, that response is a fucking joke.
I then spoke to 2 officers, to question them about the lack of police presence and the reply that was given to a man who had just been robbed & beaten up, and was told "it's all politics, love. do you want me to explain it to you?"
No, my friend. I do not need politics explaining to me, because i'm not a fucking idiot. Secondly, don't call me 'love'.
I understand that the organisers of Unity Day have chosen to hire a private security group instead of paying for the Police, but I also understand that they have 4-6 strong team patrolling the park on a quiet sunday afternoon.
I emailed the local policing team for LS6, even though i have little faith in the Police service, they did actually email back and then called me to discuss my issues. The inspector that i spoke to did seem to take the complaint relatively seriously, but of course, nothing can be done because i didn't get the badge number. Still, badge number or no badge number, 2 sets of police gave bullshit responses to the publics questions. Can't be arsed with paper work much?!
Maybe i've got a bee in my bonnet about this, but i think situations like this build barriers between the public and the police.
Hi.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, very sorry to hear about your friend. I feel you are owed an explanation. The lack of Police on the park was a result of a large presence last year which they believe created a confrontational atmosphere. Clearly it's a no-win situation with an event that is unfenced. It seems that 4 youths from outside the area decided to try and rob several people including one of our stewards. Despite calling the Police within seconds of the incidents they were unable to deal effectively with the incidents as the idiots ran in to the crowd then off the park.
In order to mitigate problems we decided before the event that we would end an hour earlier this year. Unfortunately this did not stop the small number of idiots who wanted to spoil an otherwise successful event. May I offer our deepest apologies to anyone who suffered at the hands of these idiots and hope that we can improve security next time.
Jon
Hi Jon, thanks for your comment, I have spoken to the Police and I understand that after last years debrief both the organisers and the police felt that the number of officers was excessive, obviously there are always going to be people who are willing to ruin such events.
ReplyDeleteThe police angered me the most with their half-arsed response and of course their sexist patronising comments. It's just a shame that an event that is geared to promote love and peace was ruined, not completely of course, but for some people they didn't quite get the feeling of unity.
Still the event on a whole was a great success, but these things need to be taken into account for next year, as the incidents could have easily escalated into fatalities, especially with the knife crime culture that Britain seems to have developed.