The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

System
System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
edited June 8 in Student general
Have a read of this;

http://www.worthingherald.co.uk/worthing/Worthing-woman39s-kidnap-hoax-fine.3161275.jp

This was my stepdaughter who's only 'crime' was to put tissues in her mouth for ten seconds and make stupid noises. A passerby, who instead of merely going up and asking her if she was okay, put two and two together, came up with seventeen million and called the police to report a kidnap! Five squad cars and the police helicopter were scrambled to look for her. Contrary to the police version of events, she swears that CCTV will prove she was sitting in the front seat, cruising with her friend holding a fag in one hand with music playing. Typical sort of teenager thing really.

The police never even reinterviewed the 'kidnap' witness, presumably happy to let my stepdaughter be their scapegoat for scrambling the helicopter unnecessarily and she's now been criminalised with an ร‚ยฃ80 fine plus a six month ASBO for basically eating tissues! She's now taking legal advice to get this overturned since she originally admitted 'guilt' under distress when they returned home, completely unawares, to be confronted by waiting police.

It's be funny if it was someone else but as people often say, "You couldn't make it up"...

Robert
ยซ1

Comments

  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    Oh God Robert I just cant believe it :shock:

    Your right about the police thou, my mum was shot at by a thug with an air rifle and it smashed the window but the police were to busy to come yet everyother day there is a police woman in clothes and car who pops next door but two from mine for an hour and half coffee break....make you mad :evil:
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    Sorry Mr B, but i couldn't see what was funny in this. With so much violence in our lives, why have a prank like it?
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *


    I agree, it's not funny. If it was a prank fair enough Sara, but it wasn't even that. It's not as if she deliberately and maliciously thought, "I'm going to pretend to be kidnapped". I think even the most reasonable person would think putting tissues in your mouth hardly equates to a crime.

    We all do stupid things that could easily be misinterpreted by others. I often pretend to 'beat' my children up - and they laugh like crazy when I do it - but someone could see this and report me too, landing me with a hefty fine and an ASBO (at my age, LOL!) Plus, being a 'former' law abiding citizen, how is she now supposed to respect the police? I too have been on the receiving end of police 'embellishment' so I
    know perfectly well how she feels.

    Regards,

    Robert
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *
    blobbyh wrote:
    ? I too have been on the receiving end of police 'embellishment' so I
    know perfectly well how she feels.

    Regards,

    Robert

    So've I but still think they deserved the fine. What reacrtion was she hoping for?
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    I think it all depends on the police in your area, ive reported 6 youths hitting and elderly gentleman with his own walking stick and the police were to busy in the end I told them I would sort it myself and they told me that was against the law and arrived ten minutes later not to talk to the youths but to talk to me about talking the law into my own hands :roll:
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    Hi Robert, having read the article and your initial post, the question that I keep asking myself is why would any reasonable person ring the police over a "small prank"?

    Surely it would take more than stuffing some tissue in her mouth for that to happen, you said she made noises, what noises were they, muffled screams of help? Could your daughter have gone that bit further than shes letting on?

    The big diff in the two stories is the tying of the hands, hopefully CCTV proves your daughter right.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    The moral to the story is "If you act the prat and get caught, you suffer the circumstances" I think , ludicrous as it may seem, she should be thankful for just an ร‚ยฃ80 fine. She could have been taken to court and hit with the full costs of the helicopter scramble and the police cars. It has happened in other parts of the country in the past.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    Pranks are dangerous. People with fake guns get shot. commonsense is needed - not people trying to be clever. Still dont understand what she was trying to achieve.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *
    Sara81 wrote:
    People with fake guns get shot.
    As do people with brown skins boarding tube trains. And people carrying table legs. And pretty much anyone the police feel like.

    This is clearly another case of the police overreacting then bluffing it out. The police comparing it to a hoax fire call is just outrageous nonsense.
    Sara81 wrote:
    Still dont understand what she was trying to achieve.
    "Achieve?" How about having a laugh and mucking about like kids do.

    I didn't know 'acting the' prat was a criminal offence FG. Still, given that this country is increasingly a police state it wouldn't surprise me.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *
    CJC wrote:
    "Achieve?" How about having a laugh and mucking about like kids do.
    I don't think she's a kid. If she were then it would be easier to understand and to accept that the whole matter was indeed crazy. But even young adults should have a sense of what is a laugh and what sint.

    having once been attacked by someone who tried to pull me from my car and into theirs, i find anything like this pretty hard to understand.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    Not sure about the police being slated here on this one, I'm afraid.

    In today's age the Police come under fire whatever they do, be it right or wrong.

    In this instance I doubt the Police acted unduly to be truthful. If a young person is behaving in a way which is suspicious then surely the Police should act on it. Would the same comments be posted if (forgive me) the scenario was for real?

    In the North-West we've had 2 (fatal) stabbings in 2 weeks (all by young people), countless numbers of under-age drinkers behaving stupid and 2 (fatal) shootings - all in the same month.

    I think the Police are on high alert across the UK so I would imagine the general public are more vigilant (not only to the yob culture but to extremism also) so anyone - especially teenagers - behaving in a way which seems odd would warrant a call to the Police and if that call was unfounded then a fine should be the minimum punishment.

    We all complain that we pay our Council Tax so the Police should do their job - in this instance they have - albeit with a fruitless outcome.

    Regards
    Steve
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *
    peugeot wrote:
    We all complain that we pay our Council Tax so the Police should do their job - in this instance they have - albeit with a fruitless outcome.
    and what happened while they were chasing this? You called it a serious post Blobbyh, but to be honest its just sad.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    It all comes down to parental discipline. Awful on the news about those children tonight. Found guilty of manslaughter. Their poor families and the family of the man that died. Dreadful.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    I heard about that on the news tonight. It's terrible.

    Some kids today know no boundaries and have no discipline.

    My aunty was a secondary school teacher for 38 years. She took early retirement last year because she could not cope with the children. She said that when she started teaching you could discipline children with whatever force you felt necessary (we used to get smacked legs at junior school).

    My aunt told me that these days the pupils go up to the teachers and threaten them because they know they can get away with it - there's absolutely no discipline.

    This is the reason why teenagers are totally out of control. No discipline at home, at school, no social activities (other than drinking and smoking) and definitely no manners.

    Sorry to rant on about this but it infuriates me why we should be beholden to these idiots and then when the Police do what they are within their rights to do, people go mad!!! Granted the Police don't necessarily respond to every situation (KA8 case above) but when they do and they are caught they then say that it's unfair!! One question:

    Why do it in the first place?

    Society gone mad!
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    Following up on this article, there are pictures in the paper today of girls brandishing replica firearms at a CCTV unit in a shopping centre. What would have happened if armed police had taken them down? There would have been a public outcry but at the end of the day, the girls would only have had themselves to blame.
    This public stupidity needs to stop NOW!
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    Farmergiles wrote:-
    What would have happened if armed police had taken them down?
    Peter, I'm surprised that there wasn't some sort of armed response to this. I can only presume that they were very obviuosly brandishing fake firearms. I remember a few years ago speaking to a police officer & he said they took this sort of thing very seriously - and I am talking about 15 years ago when we appeared to live in less violent times.
    I'm sorry Robert, but although you feel you have "insider knowledge" I can't agree with you on this one. If something had been going on do you seriously expect the person who reported it to have gone up to what she saw as a dangerous situation? OK perhaps she should have reported "an incident" to the police and let them judge the situation.

    Jan
    PS
    This public stupidity needs to stop NOW!
    My father had a saying - "You can't put an old head on young shoulders". Unfortunately that young head may now be putting itself in danger.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    I reported an intruder in our back garden trying to smash windows - the police didn't even turn up!

    Scott.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    Maybe they were chasing hoax kidnappers?
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    Ref: I reported an intruder in our back garden trying to smash windows - the police didn't even turn up!

    Just to shed some light on this scenario. I used to be a Special Police Officer and one thing I learnt whilst on duty is that if a crime is reported to the crime desk (999 number), they assess the case and if they feel it's not a detectable crime (ie no one to catch), then it is closed and actual police officers don't even know about it. I learnt this when I picked up the phone in the "barn" one day and had a very upset lady on the phone in a similar situation asking why no-one had been round! I haven't met a police officer yet who isn't doing the job for any other reason than they care - sometimes it's just another issue with "red tape".
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *
    Lucy Iles-Caine wrote:
    I used to be a Special Police Officer and one thing I learnt whilst on duty is that if a crime is reported to the crime desk (999 number), they assess the case and if they feel it's not a detectable crime (ie no one to catch), then it is closed and actual police officers don't even know about it. ".

    I love this sentence :evil: but the yobs who shot at my mother live at the back of us and we even told the police over the telephone we knew who it was and where they lived but still 4 years later we are waiting for the police to arrive and do something about it......oh yes but they are too busy doing tea next door but two, catching speeders and other really interesting stuff like that :roll:

    I also know people who work for the police department and they admit this is bad and that there is red tape and certain things they have to achieve each month like drink driving offences, speeding, racial crimes etc....but instead of meeting targets how about the just go back to old fashioned policing and potect the innocent and I also agree it is about how you are raised by your parents right from wrong and all that.

    ok ill get off my soap box now, sorry :oops: just gets me alittle angry

  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *


    So it seems we all realise that the police are struggling to do the best they can. Even more reason for members of the public not to waste their time, and not to find excuses for what is unacceptable behaviour.

    Diverting overstreched police to what turns out to be a prank is madness - not on the part of the person making that call, but on those that actually created the situation.

    If they were 'kids', then parental responsibility has to be a factor. If they were adults, then I think they got off too lightly.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    I'm really interested in how this debate is going actually because I am anti-police in their approach to non-urgent issues such as pursuing drivers on a more or less continuous basis. I travel on a motorway every working day and it makes me wonder why there are so many police cars parked up with their speeding detectors in rush hour!! I mean, who gets past 10mph at 7.30a.m. on the M60 on a Monday morning?

    However, security issues in today's age have to be priority. Forget a motorist doing 72mph on a motorway, there are more pressing issues and as a nation, we have tended to bolt the door after the horse has gone. In other words, an incident happens and then the Police and security forces react. I think the incident cited in Robert's original post merely highlights the way the Police are now (thankfully) taking such incidences seriously and providing a service for which we pay for.

    Teenagers these days really do need to be taught a lot more about social responsibility as I suspect in the next 10 to 15 years things will get worse. The "am I bovvered" attitude with teenagers nowadays is just parental negligence which I think should be punishable in the Courts - especially nowadays.

    Kind regards
    Steve
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *


    There won't be many of us that haven't felt a little 'persecuted' over some things - especially when we read of serious crimes being apparently ignored.

    But I think the majority of responses tend to be a little incredulous that the original incident could be classed as only a prank.

    Pranks used to be 'ringing door bells and running away', feigning kidnap - however far-fetched it may have appeared, is not a prank.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    When my brothers and myself were children we used to play "knock a door run". An elderly lady who we used to do this to told my parents and we got the telling off of our lives! In fact we weren't allowed to "play out" for weeks.

    I wasn't brought up in a VERY strict household, but I was taught right from wrong and if I or my brothers ever strayed onto the wrong, my parents were no-nonsense about it - we were punished for it. I spent many a teenage year grounded for - in what may seem today - to be minimalistic issues e.g. throwing an egg at my next door neighbour!! At the time I found it hilarious - until the 3 month grounding which involved my father picking me up from school and not being allowed out of the house! Did me no harm though!!

  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *


    Discipline - is it still out there?

    There was something in the paper recently about how young children do not have decent role models any more. 'Father figures' are non-existent in some families, without even an uncle to help.

    Am I the only one who finds it offensive listening to kids of 12 or 13 effing and blinding?

  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    If I heard my nephew/godchildren effing and blinding they'd get a slap around the chops.

    Too much attitude that's what the problem is with today's kids. They get what they want because they know how to manipulate the law in their favour!

    I would still use reasonable force to discipline my children . Myself and my brothers had reasonable force on us and it didn't do us any harm (even at school). It's today's bureaucratic nonsense that allows kids to run riot.

  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *


    At least Robert was right about one thing. The world has gone crazy, and it's serious.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    It has but in the wrong way.

    I mentioned earlier about my Aunt who was a secondary school teacher for 38 years. I was talking to her about it the other week at my brothers wedding because her nickname at school was "the witch". I was taught at the same school my Aunt taught at.

    She said that she had to be like that to make it known she was in charge. She said she is devastated at the way teachers are treated nowadays by pupils because (in her words) she said it used to be the teachers that ran the schools - now it's the pupils.

    I fear for my children, my brothers' children and my friends children to be honest.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *


    Couln't agree with you more. My teachers were tough, but fair.

    Kids would get hit by blackboard rubbers and rulers. One would twist your hair round his fingers until you squealed.

    If they tried it today, he'd be in prison, career in tatters and the kid would be busy counting the proceeds of his claim for damages.
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 ๐Ÿค– Admin ๐Ÿค–
    Re:The world's gone crazy * SERIOUS *

    And the kids know it! That's why they abuse it to their advantage.

    When I have gone into the City Centre at lunchtime during the weekdays I have been amazed at the amount of kids walking around Piccadilly. Nobody seems to bother.

    You see all these programmes on TV about these so called "inspectors" walking around ensuring kids go to school but I'm sure a lot of that is made for us to believe they are doing their job.

    It's this yob culture that stops the likes of myself and my girlfriend going for walks or walking home from the pub or walking to the shop at 9.30pm when we fancy a drink or walking to my fathers which is 10 minutes away!

Categories

Privacy Policy