Bored cops bully kids

[Paul99]

They were mostly girls, there were only 20 or so all told, and yes there are two sides to every story, as I conceded in my OP. Nevertheless, I'd be really interested to hear any 'story' that would make the actions of the police good policing, as against, say, seeing their uniform as giving them an opportunity to throw their weight around and follow their own agenda. Say, Nothing better to do? Let's go and bust a few snot-nosed middle-class kids for possession.

Yeh, they should stick to busting those snot nosed working class kids.

I think that the majority of responses you have had on here are representative of the people having actually been teenagers once themselves, or having their own now.

I'm quite sure your daughter was not involved in any shenanigans, but if you believe that you have the full, unadulterated version of events then you are looking at the world through rose tinted glasses.

Parent: Why are you home early from the party?
Child: We got raided by the police.

3 weeks later...

Child: Can I go to another party on Saturday night?
Parent: Only in your dreams.

Or.........

 

[matiz]

Oh you didnt mention they were middle class kids thats outrageous the cops should stick to giving us working class lot a good kicking

 

[swee'pea99]

Oh you didnt mention they were middle class kids thats outrageous the cops should stick to giving us working class lot a good kicking

I'm sure given the right occasion & circumstances they'd be only too happy to oblige. Especially if you were, say, working class Moslems. Or perhaps working class Spurs fans, when they happened to be gooners. All sorts of mindless prejudice you can vent if you're in a uniform. Or at a keyboard for that matter.

Oh, and I don't know why people seem so myopic about the second line of my original post - 'albeit I only have her side of the story'. I don't for a moment imagine that's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. At the same time, I have no doubt that it is, in essence, the truth. And for my money, it stinks. It's not policing, it's bullying. It's the difference between policing in a democratic state (there for the people, to protect the people) and policing in a police state (there for the powers that be - including itself, to control the people). If that doesn't worry you, so be it. Like I say, I think it stinks.

 

[Paul99]

Nobody is being myopic about your OP.

Albeit we got the story only from her, she's no liar, and apparently what happened was this.

I don't for a moment imagine that's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

 

[swee'pea99]

Nobody is being myopic about your OP.

Nice bit of selective bolding there. Well done!

FWIW, there's no contradiction between the two complete phrases you quote. Both are true.

 

[Paul99]

Nice bit of selective bolding there. Well done!

Glad you liked it, here's some more for your amusement...

scaring the shoot out of the assembled gentle, well-behaved 15-16 year olds

There had been no violence. There was no noise louder than you'd expect from a 15-16 year old's fancy dress party. This was 9 o' clock, remember. And there were no drugs.

I especially like the gentle bit. Gentle. Hahaha sounds like a vicar's afternoon tea party.

Booze? Of course there was booze. I never said anything about tiddleywinks and ice-cream. They were a bunch of nice, well-behaved 15-16 year olds letting off steam before getting into the last lap of pre-GCSE preparations. They were mostly on that horrible fruit-flavoured cider, by all accounts, and I'm sure several had had more than too much. Kids do that. There may even have been a spliff or two (though the cops didn't find any); such things are not unheard of among bright 15-16 year olds.

 

[Saluki]

I'd be having a chat with your local duty inspector and trying to chat with the other parents too. Try and find out exactly what went on.

Our neighbour (this was in about 1992) called the police about nefarious goings on at No. 56 - suspicious comings and goings all afternoon. People going to the front door knocking on and leaving a few seconds after, that sort of thing. The local bobby turned up, saw it was a children's birthday party and went and had a very strong word with the complaining neighbour about wasting police time.

I would think that some malicious neighbour or uninvited person has called the police, on 999, with some cock and bull story about a crack den or something. I think that 15 and 16 year olds are mature enough to be left of an evening with their friends, especially if they don't put it on facebook. Most of my friends' teenaged daughters are pretty sensible. Some police personnel do like to be heavy handed and like a scrap on a saturday night (with the full protection of a uniform so that they don't get lumped back). Our Leslie used to tell us so. He was very vocal about some young coppers when he had been in the force for 20+ years.

My parents would have killed me if I had had a sip of booze at 16!! Let alone a spliff (not that I knew what one was at 16). Another era, I guess.

 

[Levo-Lon]

^^^You will get 20 different tales from the 20 kids

 

[Arrowfoot]

Entering a house and conducting room to room search is serious. You might get one or two rogue cops throwing their weight around but 7 acting in a collusive manner and doing such a thing without a warrant or more than a probable cause is quite another thing. Even if the info is about drugs it would require a lot more checks before any such actions occur. Police do not raid for a couple of spliffs and alcohol.

Best is to check with the Police. They actually have got the wrong house.

 

[swee'pea99]

It's not really my call; not my house. I've let it be known that if my daughter's friend's mum wants to pursue it, I'll be happy to help if I can....but it's really not up to me.

 

[Cuchilo]

I got invited to a party once .

 

[Markymark]

I got invited to a party once .

Was there food and drink?

Sorry but if it's just you and your mum it's called dinner, not a party.

 

[Cuchilo]

Was there food and drink?

Sorry but if it's just you and your mum it's called dinner, not a party.

ah , scrub my last post then .

 

[CopperCyclist]

I'm sorry to say I'm a little bit more sceptical.

... Snip...

I heartily +1 @buggi post above and will try to do my best not to repeat it.

A couple of points though...

I can think of a scenario where seven officers turning up could be entirely possible. Most city forces (you said it was a city) put out extra officers for the 'night time economy', that are mostly just there for the drink fueled violence. They work from vans with (traditionally) one sergeant and seven PCs. We have to ask these vans to assist us every weekend now with jobs that aren't really in their remit, but we've run out of units. This could be a plausible and likely scenario for me of seven officers turning up.

You don't know what the call to the police was. I'll give you a cast iron guarantee that there was a call. Quite a common one we get regarding noisy parties is "There's loads of shooting and it sounds like someone is being killed". When we get a report like that, even when it's likely to be an over exaggeration, we are going in to check, and yes, every room.

I don't want to go much further on that point though, as I am guessing and hypothesising the whole thing. While some may be happy to give certainties about what the police could or couldn't have done in your situation, I'm
not overly happy to without the whole picture.

Lastly, and let me make this really, really clear. If your daughter was at an address where 15 and 16 year olds were knowingly left alone, knowing there would be alcohol and suspecting there would be drugs, then a visit from the police is not surprising at all, and perhaps the view from my ivory towers is distant, but I'm shocked you allowed her to be there knowing those facts.

 

[Monsieur]

15/16 year olds at a party without adult supervision until midnight

7 police wouldn't enter without a good reason