theageofthetra
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Only foreign media reporting this story, any inside info on what the UK media are failing to report on.
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What has closed London Bridge station? (Friday 24 May)
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ralphchadkirk
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Closed following a suspected security incident, now reopened.
A friend was on a train and said that a lunatic was reportedly on the train, waving a hatchet. They searched the train, couldn't find him so shut the station.
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Elephant & Castle station has the Met with an airport style scanner on the way in to the station this evening.
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Elephant & Castle station has the Met with an airport style scanner on the way in to the station this evening.
theageofthetra
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Nothing on the Sky mobile sites. Looks like it was just an understandable jittery reaction. Any one know why the knife scanner has been set up at Elephant and Castle?
I've seen them before elsewhere. It might just be part of the ongoing police campaign against knife crime, knife crime isn't unknown in S. London. Sniffer dogs have been a regular thing at Brixton tube too.
HSTEd
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The deployment of that sort of scanner really worries me..... this is not Israel.
And I might note that carriage of a knife is not necessarily illegal if done properly. (So people returning from buying cutlery are not permitted to use public transport?)
"He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither"
And I might note that carriage of a knife is not necessarily illegal if done properly. (So people returning from buying cutlery are not permitted to use public transport?)
"He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither"
I would tend to agree, but think this is probably a bit of a show more than the thin end of a wedge. I suppose you could question why such a show is necessary or even desirable.
Simply because there's a scanner doesn't mean that anyone carrying cutlery through it has a problem. There's a shade of strawman here. (The bit in the brackets is especially silly
)Mmm yeah sounds good, but kinda presupposes a shade of tin-foil-hattedness which I'm not 100% sure is appropriate right here.
Yeah, lets all tear down the railway fences and walk across motorways!
telstarbox
Established Member
It is illegal to carry a 'usable' knife with a blade over a certain length.
Searle
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From First Capital Connect's twitter: a funny joke or a bit too soon? (I think lloyd is another person on the twitter team)
Llanigraham
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The length is 3", and lock-knives are also illegal.
I have found that being a registered First Aider does help if stopped.
I have found that being a registered First Aider does help if stopped.
HSTEd
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The reason which will be determined to be "acceptable" by the CPS after the policeman has dragged you down to the station because he "doesn't like the look of you".
And the knife will probably be seized as well.
Having laws against the carriage of knives is simply a panic-reaction to Daily Mail headlines about how every youth has a knife which they use to regularily stab each other.
Possibly the most stupid comment I have ever read.
HSTEd
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Well is there any real reason to ban the carriage of knives really?
Police searches are hardly common enough to be a deterrent, and if a gang is caught running around in hoodies and found to have knives, you can probably charge them all with conspiracy to commit various kinds of bodily harm.
It appears to be nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to appease the press that likes to blow all these things out of proportion to sell copy.
dysonsphere
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So how exactly does one carry the new set of knives home or the chisel just bought for woodwork at home or the set of modelling knives I could go on but you get the drift.
I think they've got a certain type of person that they're looking for. The blade in itself isn't enough. At E&C last night they told me not to bother going through the scanner. I am a 36 year old male in a M&S suit.
Interestingly, I am from Belfast so when I was 20, I would have been exactly the person they would have searched.
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Knife arches are nothing new-they regularly use them around deptford/lewisham/new cross and have done for at least 10 years.
Not everyone passes through them like an airport-they select people 'at random'.
Basically an 80 yr old woman returning from the shops won't be asked to pass through it but a gang of hoodies in their 20s who stink of weed will. And I completely agree with the tactic. They often lead to confiscation of a number of knives.
amcluesent
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Actually, the 80 year old gran will be shaken down so the coppers don't get accused of racial profiling.
#1 driver
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i know the looney liberals will hate me, but i support racial profiling.
It is fact that street gangs are a problem in these black majority areas such as brixton, lambethj and elephant and castle. And knives are their weapon of choice.
Whats the point in stopping a little old white lady when she is not the problem.
It is fact that street gangs are a problem in these black majority areas such as brixton, lambethj and elephant and castle. And knives are their weapon of choice.
Whats the point in stopping a little old white lady when she is not the problem.
Wyvern
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Question regarding your use of the phrase "loony liberal" . Is it somehow worse than being of the rabid right?
No, she won't. They don't put everyone through, they only target those that they are targeting that day. When I lived around south London I often entered stations when they had the arch up and never got asked to walk through it-they would watch who was entering the station and pull out those who they wanted to search-and they were pretty much always those who 'looked' as if they were in gangs.
Its led by intelligence, not being stereotypical etc and being accused of racial profiling is a myth. They will actually probably know many of the people they search by name as they will have arrested them in the past.
Its all down to who they are targeting. Infact, often in airports they will do random searches based in completely random things such as 'today we search anyone wearing blue shoes' etc.
My problem with that is that it is just unfair to those who are decent and law abiding and who just happen to be young and black.
It's pragmatic of the police to target them based on appearance and it may get results but I think I'd prefer to live in a society where everyone is allowed to continue unhindered with the presumption of innocence, regardless of public safety.
The people deciding which groups to target usually don't see their communities as high risk.
Must be different policies, whenever I have seen them everyone had to go through without exception.
ralphchadkirk
Established Member
Because, of course, only black people stab each other :roll: .
What a ridiculous comment...........why exactly does anybody need to carry a knife or is it just some vendetta you have against the Daily Mail?
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I've seen BTP with sniffer dogs at Elephant & Castle a few times, also at High Wycombe a few months ago
It's silly that this needs to happen but after 7/7 I was stopped and searched at Liverpool Street. Except that compared to the searches of certain people, my search was a total joke.
I was only asked what was in my rucksack, it wasn't checked, and when I asked why I'd been stopped the officer was quite open and said it was to avoid being accused of picking on certain people.
The other kids matching their real profile were being surrounded by 2 or more officers and being very thoroughly searched. Not that they were being aggressive or anything.
Stopping me to do a fake check was just a waste of time and wouldn't have fooled anyone even if the PC hadn't admitted it!
Surely it depends on the demographics of an area? Stopping a black male that is dressed up to look like a gangster (even if just a fashion thing or caving in to peer pressure to fit in) is sensible, but if that then extends to stopping anyone that is black in the City of London then you have a problem.
Just as you would stopping only black people in a village that is predominantly white, suggesting some rather prejudiced views.
While do gooders will want to stick up for people, often as they feel superior and believe these people couldn't do without their help, the majority of black people in those areas are just as much for these stops as anyone else. They are law abiding and know that there are a few bad apples that then get all black people tarnished with the same brush. Just like muslims today.
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