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An army of six hundred policemen marched down a London
street yesterday afternoon in an unprecedented show
of strength and then started raiding premises after
months of intelligence-gathering in the heart of the
city's "Algerian
community."
Blackstock Road in Finsbury Park, North London, was
targeted for being an area well known as a hangout for
criminals.
Operation Mista was aimed at people handling stolen
goods like mobile phones and laptops, drug dealing,
money-laundering and forging passports. Thirty-seven
people were arrested.
One of the residents said that muggings and stabbings
had become a regular occurrence. Where were the police
then?
A comment from 'J P' in the Daily
Mail states:
"I've lived round the corner from Blackstock for
5 and 1/2 years. I can't believe it's taken the police
so long to do this. It's been obvious from the minute
I moved here that there was a huge community of men
hanging around all day with no discernible employment."
It looks to me like the 'authorities' deployed these
tactics solely to train the public to live in a police
state. Are we supposed to believe they could not deal
with these criminals as and when they were discovered?
Problem - Reaction - Solution
This looks like problem-reaction-solution... first
the Government turns the police force and judiciary
into a farce and knowingly allows in numerous foreign
criminals to the country, then the public screams for
something to be done (see the joy and praise in most
comments on the Mail's article) and then we get hundreds
of stormtroopers marching down our streets to restore
order out of the chaos the Government created.
Now we have just been a little bit desensitised to
seeing the police acting this way in Britain. Next time
it could be a blitz on houses that do not have a TV
licence and if that happens, just about anything else
is possible.
The
Times article reports that, "Shoppers were
stopped and questioned at cordons at each exit to the
street as they attempted to leave."
This is what happens in a police state: all ordinary
citizens are considered the enemy.
Hundreds of police stations have closed, so much police
time is wasted on paperwork and your average copper
is too scared to give a naughty child a clip round the
ear for fear of being accused of assault.
Real policing that encourages safer, friendlier communities
is becoming squeezed out to make way for jackboot tactics.
I fear this case in Finsbury Park sets a very dangerous
precedent for Britain.
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