Sunday 9 September 2012

Common Sense

I listened to Tory MP Margot James on the Andrew Marr show this morning calling for police to be taught common sence.

I'm not sure this is something that can be taught, people have it or dont. Not many MPs seem to have it judging by their expenses or silly statements.

Surely police should be trained in what is the law, not on what Tory MPs think is reasonable. Or the police will soon be taking long summer holidays and charging everything on expenses.

The case in question involved shooting burglars with a legal shotgun; which is rare and worrying. Surprising homeowners in their bedrooms while wearing masks is not reasonable behavior, but shooting at intruders should be at least discouraged or people will start dying. As they do in the states in great numbers

In this case the couple were held in custody for three days, which I think should be up to the legal authorities not just the police. Courts should judge anyone being held longer than a day. But Tories dont seem worried about suspects being held for weeks as long as they dont own a house.

Home Office statistics showed that 36 individuals had been detained under immigration powers for two years or longer!

http://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2012/02/08/indefinite-detention-not-very-british/

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9530564/Conservative-MPs-demand-greater-rights-for-householders-against-burglars.html

"Margot James (Stourbridge) (Con): May we have a statement from the Home Secretary on the urgent need to include common sense in the training of police officers...?"
http://www.margotjames.com/content/margot-james-calls-government-statement-arrest-mr-and-mrs-ferrie

4 comments:

howard thomas said...

Four masked men break into a house where 2 are shot by a legally held shotgun. If one or both were killed then who is at fault? What would anyone else do in the circumstances, make them tea and provide biscuits?
I think its quite wrong that the couple were held for 3 days when they should simply have been interviwed to establish their side of the story before any thoughts of locking them up were even considered. The fault is with the intruders. Simple really , if you don't want to risk being shot then don't go breaking into people's houses!

Unknown said...

I have to agree with the comment by howard thomas above. Of course we don't want the UK to become like the States, especially a state like Texas or Florda where all you have to do is have "reasonable suspicion" that you are in danger to shoot someone. By the same token, if there ever was a case where it seemed this kind of self-defense was justified, this is it.
Green world

Adrian Windisch said...

I wouldnt people to be encouraged to keep shotguns in the home by this incident. In the USA its all to common, and the legal ones soon get stolen and held by criminals. Then most criminals are armed and we would have real problems.

A few years ago something similar happened, but with no guns. The residents got jail time while the burglars didnt. For some reason thos caused less outrage from Tory MPs.

Mr Munir Hussain pursued a burglar with a cricket bat and metal pole after he and his family were tied up and threatened with a knife. His conviction - a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence later reduced to a one-year suspended sentence - caused public outrage, compounded by the fact that his attacker received a non-custodial punishment.

howard thomas said...

The problem with the Hussain case is that he pursued them from the property and then attacked them when the danger had passed because they were running away. That makes the force 'unreasonable' and that is why he went to prison. However he has to have sympathy because many people would like the chance to give such an offender fitting 'punishment' as the law fails to do it properly.