I think there is a type of man who may (in a system which protects its wrongdoers, blames whistleblowers, normalises sexist thuggish behaviour to the point where it is institutionalised and hushed-up), very well abduct and murder a woman because he feels like it, and it is the business of an institution like the police to make sure they don’t employ that type of man.
There are tests to weed them out, there is training both on probation and on the job, I don’t think he is an unusual psychopathic exception, unfortunately.
As for " it could have been handled more sympathetically" I take it you haven’t seen the photographs of shameful police behaviour in the press, litotes has a place as a literary device and this isn’t it.
I don;t think the young woman handcuffed on the ground and surrounded by police would agree with you.
Surrounding the bandstand looks very like kettling to me.
Thanks for those illuminating words which put my comment, and Jane’s too, in a broader context of women’s trust of the police, which my own question - and my recollection of Jane’s personal experience of police aggro - overlooked.
What I find interesting in all of this very sad state of affairs is the fact that the Police have seen fit to comment on the Officer’s short career history in advance of his trial at the OB. Most unusual
I’m pretty sure French police are equally as bad as the Brits, if not worse.
French police are constantly being held up for racism, and their record on attitudes to women, especially domestic violence victims, is as appalling.
French women are even more likely to be murdered than British ones.
I blame the cultural fallout of religion, especially Catholicism, here in France. And the sex and porn industry. All of which are deeply entrenched in French counter-culture and tradition.
I don’t advocate criminalisation of sex work,(like drugs, it just gets worse when it’s lawless) but I do think it needs much tougher specialist regulations to abolish the child abuse, vulnerable adult abuse, pimping and violence.
The media are very good at manipulating film footage to push a reaction from the public.
I think that what we see & what led up to police reaction are deliberately edited to provoke the reaction we now witness.
Nobody would dare question the behaviour of this mob (& there are a few scenes of violent behaviour from these “mourners”) in view of the reason behind it.
Fact is, there are laws in place that make such attacks & murder illegal but it still goes on. Crime, in all its forms, still happens & unless perpetrators are killed at birth, it always will.
This was a terrible incident but like all killings, could not be predicted or realistically prevented. Murderers do not usually advertise.
Large gatherings are, at the moment, illegal for very obvious reasons & the virus will not take a day off to allow mass gatherings for whatever reason so it seems to be odd that these people demand protection from one hidden danger & then kick up when they are being protected from another.
Policemen are human & as such will have human failings - one, apparently, a major one.
To pillory them in this fashion seems harsh & I would not be surprised that, in the future, when a member of the public demands police assistance the police will just tell them to sort it themselves as the public seem to know their job so well!
The vigil was originally organised by #reclaimTheseStreets. It was arranged with all the required measures for COVID safety, but was suppressed by Priti Patel using covid as the excuse.
Sisters Uncut defied it because they are formed by many individual women with much more direct experience of serious male violence.
If men want compliant women, they need to stop hurting them.
if Patel cared a jot about safety, she would have banned Cheltenham and football back in march 2020 when the WHO said so. And she would have sent the police or army to UK beaches when everyone was there getting drunk and not even using their civil right to protest about being unsafe every day- not just during a pandemic.
Protesting is not the same as ‘floutiing’ covid regulations.
& @anon90504988
It’s almost as if they’re trying to pervert the course of public opinion [justice] by making out that he didn’t really count as a proper police officer.
" I couldn’t say whether it was badly managed by the Police -"
Maybe you should have a look at the video evidence. There’s plenty of it. I’ve seen it and it’s clear as crystal.
Kettling, over deployment, under cover of darkness, waiting until royalty had gone home, unnecessary brutality, unprovoked, heavyweight, mobhanded.
Reminds us of rape and murder.
That’s obviously what it was. “He’s nowt to do wiv us guv, he’s only been a copper 5 minutes, must be a rogue wrongun who slipped through the net.” so incredibly transparent that’s what they were suggesting, shameful.
There is no evidence to suggest that she was aware at any time he was a police officer, There has been very little said about the circumstances which is right,to avoid prejudicing a future trial,which is why people should avoid constructing scenarios on the Internet and risking being in contempt of court
There is to be a film of the murder of our neighbour by the Cluny gendarmerie .
It will be called La Chanson de Jerome and the parts are all to be played by local people.
I have looked at the video evidence. Not mentioned in any of these posts is the fact that the vigil began in the early afternoon. Police - despite people being asked to stay away - stood by for 6 (six) hours before they began asking people to disperse - and that was when it had become dark, with many people gathered. Evidently quite a few people did disperse. And like it or not, a minority of people did start abusing the police, and it started to get out of control. How does shouting at the police, calling them rapists and bastards, constitute a respect for the poor lady they were there to remember? I feel reluctant to comment further given the drubbing I received on here yesterday - but that’s life.
