On Tuesday June 7, an incident took place in Collier Row where a man was arrested by police officers following a report made by members of the public. Once again social media users took to actively commenting on this incident and sharing a video of part of the incident.
This is a common trend now and actively encouraged by many social media bravados who call upon our society to film police incidents. For the record police officers themselves have also agreed and concurred that it is acceptable to film an event, from a safe distance where you are not obstructing a police officer. The issue here comes when only part of the event is filmed and the vital knowledge behind the event is lacking.
On Tuesday this week the incident on Collier Row Road saw numerous police vehicles and seven police officers detain one male. Facebook users embarked on the usual comments of -all this for one man, police brutality, it doesn’t take all those officers to restrain one man, this is like George Floyd and of course the all time favourite- they are all pigs.
Yesterday, the Havering Daily was able to shed light on the ENTIRE incident that began with members of the public reporting a driver for what appeared to be drunk driving, police stopped the vehicle immediately and asked the suspect to provide the standard breath test to check alcohol levels. He declined and then following a struggle, was placed on the ground whilst his vehicle was searched. Officers then found Class A drugs, a fire arm and when the suspect himself was searched, a knife.
Silence on social media then from the anti pig brigade.
The key points are here, as members of the public -we are not aware of the knowledge behind the stop, we are not aware of the information on a possible suspect, we are not aware of the reasons behind the search.
As members of the public we also are not aware of what it is like to try and detain a male who does not want to be detained. Or even a male under some form of intoxication being either alcohol or drugs. Unless we have been in this situation ourselves, then comments made are not justifiable.
Police turning suspects heads away from officers is to safe guard themselves from spitting, another popular trend police officers also have to deal with on a daily basis.
Uniformed comments heavily criticising police officers are actively helping this ongoing anti police narrative.
Thank you to those in the community who have called out the negative comments and praised our police officers for their work. We need to work with our police and not against them, they are a vital part of our community and it is our job to support them.