Deliberate deceit?

[Scully]

Was perusing Cumbria Police website after being told they were having a knife amnesty....again, and came across a little gem of a story regarding a Barrow man who had been jailed for possession of drugs and a 'S5 firearm', which it turns out was a 'taser torch', so not in fact a firearm at all. It looks like a baton with a torch attached, but is capable of delivering an incapacitating electric shock akin to a taser.

Now I know for statistical purposes all manner of none type implements are classed as firearms, such as the above, and moderators, and in one report 'unknowns'. Why is this? Is this deliberate deceit in an attempt to reach quotas or massage figures or some other reason? I have to admit it really narks me.

As for the knife amnesty; it would be hilarious if it weren't for the fact that last Monday a woman in Newcastle was stabbed to death and an actual prisoner was also stabbed to death with ( reportedly ) a combat knife! Not a shiv, a combat knife! Is it me?

[la bala]

Was perusing Cumbria Police website after being told they were having a knife amnesty....again, and came across a little gem of a story regarding a Barrow man who had been jailed for possession of drugs and a 'S5 firearm', which it turns out was a 'taser torch', so not in fact a firearm at all. It looks like a baton with a torch attached, but is capable of delivering an incapacitating electric shock akin to a taser.

Now I know for statistical purposes all manner of none type implements are classed as firearms, such as the above, and moderators, and in one report 'unknowns'. Why is this? Is this deliberate deceit in an attempt to reach quotas or massage figures or some other reason? I have to admit it really narks me.

As for the knife amnesty; it would be hilarious if it weren't for the fact that last Monday a woman in Newcastle was stabbed to death and an actual prisoner was also stabbed to death with ( reportedly ) a combat knife! Not a shiv, a combat knife! Is it me?

I bet all the knife boys are queing up to drop them off.

[panoma1]

Knife amnesty.... Plod and the politicians conning the public so it looks like they are doing something about violent crime! Absolute joke!

 

Like the pistol ban.....what did that achieve? the only people who have pistols now are the crooks and the cops......or the magazine restrictions on Semi auto shotguns.......a loony can only kill 3 people now before reloading......rather than 5.

 

What next for amnesty? Hammers, chisels, screwdrivers, sharp sticks, cars, biros, table cutlery, kitchen knives etc, etc, etc, all can be lethal if the intention is to use them for that purpose!

 

I'm afraid the real answer to reducing crime committed with an offensive weapon lies elsewhere!

[hawkfanz]

come on guys what do you expect when common sense has been lost forever ?

[keg]

I'm sure i read somewhere that certain knife crime is counted as gun crime, must try and find it!.

[GingerCat]

The taser torch is referred to as a firearm as that is what it is legally described as. It is a section 5 firearm, like it up lump it that's the definition.

Cs gas and pepper spray fall into the same catagory as its a noxious substance or "other thing". It is a catch all section of the firearms act.

So the police aren't trying to massage figures but are in actual fact being accurate.

The issue is with the home office and their writing of the law passed by parliament.

[fortune]

I did have a bit of a chuckle about how they are going to deploy armed officers on the underground in an attempt to display to the public and give confidence. I would have thought that they were doing exactly the opposite. If I was at a railway station the last thing that I would be thinking about would be a terrorist attack but if there was armed officers on display I would be thinking about why they considered it necessary to be there. Unless there are common armed attacks on the transport system they are never going to be in the right place at the right time. Still it's about par for the thought or lack of thought or weird thought patterns of the decision makers in this country.

[Scully]

I wasn't really suggesting it was the police trying to massage figures, but rather the HO.

It is also true that any incident where a firearm is initially reported by a witness etc, is officially reported as a firearms incident regardless of whether the item turns out to be fake, genuine or even a parsnip!