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The last time anything like this happened in Ely was 1991, most of the people attacking the police weren't even born back then. As cretinous as they may be, and without consideration for peoples safety or their community and the welfare of the people who live in it, i would add that these idiots probably do need quite a huge excuse to go out and do what they did, that doesn't make it right, it was appalling, but don't fall into the trap of thinking that this kind of shit could happen on a regular basis. The good people of Ely are being failed by the Police, by the local authority, by the education system, and by the politicians. It'll probably take something like this to make them react and do something, although i very much doubt it.
Wether their reaction was good , bad or nothing at all it's the fact they have from the start failed to state exactly the situation that people saw .....a police van following two kids on a scooter .....that has caused confusion , mistrust and given some the excuse to get involved in confrontation
Let's imagine some people on here were in Ely and saw the scooter being followed by a police van
The crash occurs and on social media people start saying what they saw .....kids being followed by a van
The police come out and say there wasn't a chase etc ......
To a lot of people that's going to feel that they are being challenged on what they saw
Chase , pursuit , trailed , shadowed
You say potato , I say potato etc etc
It really doesn't matter
The police failed to make sure everyone knew that the boys were being followed but when they crashed the police had withdrawn
This is all down to this simple matter . This missed opportunity has lit the fuse .
Were there any disturbances in Ely this evening?
Driving along Western Ave the along Cowbridge Rd towards Culver at around 7.45 could see a tall plume of smoke, then 2 fire engines with sirens on making their way towards it.
Firstly, the two are not mutually exclusive. Secondly, as you can see by the title of this thread my comment was posted during the disturbances later in the evening and pertain to that and that only. I don't need to virtue signal any sympathies I have for the victims of what happened earlier. But if you want to be seen to be making a fuss, be my guest. Cheers now.
Lots I disagree with you on Sludge, but I’m with you on this.
I think my parents did a good job in bringing my siblings and I up, but the respect for and trust in the police that we had drummed into us during our childhoods has not been justified in my experience in the last forty years or so in particular. My use of the word experience is not totally justified mind because there’s been little direct experience of them (what there has been has been a mixture of good and bad), but life in general has taught me that the police tend to lurch from one crisis to another, there are plenty of fine wors spoken after something like the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, but, essentially, nothing ever changes - suffice it to say, I’m not sure how anyone can be shocked by, for example, the police actions against the Republic protesters a few weeks back or the lies after what happened on Monday - it’s what the police do.
The communication was pathetic, but I suppose they were under pressure, every day the information was getting BBC verified, but even then all they were doing was looking at 1 or 2 cameras minutes before the accident, they didn't know the boys drove towards the police, saw them turned around and both ended up traveling in the same direction and that the police didn't actually pursue them for long, and were half a mile away from the accident.
It looks like a tragic accident but the police were not really involved and the riot was based on hearsay.
The second CCTV video released yesterday actually makes it look nothing like a chase. Van was well behind them and then went a different direction. Unfortunately the press seem to sense a 'gotcha' moment and don't really seem to be analysing it
another Video
https://news.sky.com/video/share-12888585
We know all this
We have cctv of the police following the youngsters at 30 mph
Wether they were following them for 500 yards or 50 yards that's what they were doing
The police made initial statements that they were not involved
You cannot blame people for saying hold on a minute I saw you following them ......and it's been proved by cctv
The police from the start should have said .....officers were following two persons , it wasn't a full on chase but we were at speeds of 30 mph ....at a safe distance
This happened for approximately ....2 minutes .....insert time here
Then the scooter continued as our officers turned off the road
Shortly after the fatal accident occurred but we had no vehicles in the area at the time
What's so difficult about that ?
So in the earlier video people seeing that who are not experts in roads policing would think .....those boys are being tailed , followed etc by the police ....
So when the police initially say no police involved in accident then people are understandably going to think 🤔......they are taking the piss here
Clearly not a chase, still following but having kept a safe speed, lost them? Maybe
Is it just me though or is that police van going at quite a speed for one that's not on blue lights
Speed the boys were going at was crazy though and a tragic accident waiting to happen
People put together snippets of information/gossip/hearsay and jumped to a conclusion. That's what led to the unrest.
Alun Michael's statement and early involvement was unnecessary and wrong. That's not his job. He should have allowed the police to gather evidence before letting them make a statement. I was speaking to a civilian member of swp last night - the general feeling in the force is that Alun Michael tends to get too involved in day to day matters, and the last couple of days shows that.
Seek help Sludge.
You started off on ths thread saying the police were not to blame and have now done a full 180 degree turn.
SW Police need a complete restructure, perhaps like the Police Scotland set up , its getting like the RUC in Ulster
Any credibility they perhaps once had has evaporated.
Im not sure that Police Scotland is a great example.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-65706748
Yes just saw that but perhaps a restructure would be for the best , there has been far too many mistakes and miscarriages of justice for a force of that size. I also thought the ACC was rude to walk out of the press conference whilst questions were still being put to her yesterday.
Why is there such an insistence of CCTV footage also when there a numerous witnesses saying the children were being pursued?