The Mark Duggan verdict. : Wed Jan 08, 2014 7:55 pm  

Well the verdict is in and here is one report. I found myself getting angry when it was announced and found myself siding with those shouting down the mouthpiece officer as he was attempting to give his comments. Have I any right to logically feel this way? After all I wasn't there at the scene of the shooting and I don't have all the evidence and I didn't have to come to a considered verdict. So I am coming from a position of ignorance, which isn't good I admit. But Hillsborough and de Menezes spring to mind. I would like someone to convince me that my feelings are unfounded. And why were the police so confrontational anyway? Was there not another way? Is it right to put an officer into this kind of life or death split second decision situation?

Well the verdict is in and here is one report. I found myself getting angry when it was announced and found myself siding with those shouting down the mouthpiece officer as he was attempting to give his comments. Have I any right to logically feel this way? After all I wasn't there at the scene of the shooting and I don't have all the evidence and I didn't have to come to a considered verdict. So I am coming from a position of ignorance, which isn't good I admit. But Hillsborough and de Menezes spring to mind. I would like someone to convince me that my feelings are unfounded. And why were the police so confrontational anyway? Was there not another way? Is it right to put an officer into this kind of life or death split second decision situation?

Re: The Mark Duggan verdict. : Wed Jan 08, 2014 8:27 pm  

Sounds like a typical Police balls-up.... However, I struggle to have any sympathy for somebody who embraces the lifestyle that Duggan obviously did.

What's the old saying.... 'He who lives by the sword.....'??

Re: The Mark Duggan verdict. : Wed Jan 08, 2014 8:32 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

Sounds like a typical Police balls-up.... However, I struggle to have any sympathy for somebody who embraces the lifestyle that Duggan obviously did.

What's the old saying.... 'He who lives by the sword.....'??

Yes, but that is part of the problem that we and more importantly the police have.
Prejudging a situation and the person involved.

Re: The Mark Duggan verdict. : Wed Jan 08, 2014 8:53 pm  

From my position of ignorance I think the decision was sound and correct based on evidence heard. As I understand it the principal findings of the jury were that he had a gun, which he had thrown away shortly before being shot and that the shooting was lawful (in that it was within the law pertaining to firearms officers). The question, I suppose is whether or not the evidence presented had been doctored or not.

Re: The Mark Duggan verdict. : Wed Jan 08, 2014 9:00 pm  

So an unarmed black man was shot dead by a police officer? Tupac would have had a field day with this one

Re: The Mark Duggan verdict. : Wed Jan 08, 2014 9:05 pm  

It's dem police, dey all hate de black man, innit

Re: The Mark Duggan verdict. : Wed Jan 08, 2014 9:10 pm  

100% Wire wrote:

It's dem police, dey all hate de black man, innit

That might account for racist policing then.

Re: The Mark Duggan verdict. : Wed Jan 08, 2014 9:36 pm  

Stand-Offish wrote:

And why were the police so confrontational anyway?

Was there not another way?

Is it right to put an officer into this kind of life or death split second decision situation?

How do you suggest the police deal with people they expect to be armed criminals on their way to commit a crime?

The issue of the gun. If it was Duggan's then TBH I have no sympathy for him. If the police planted it then there are massive problems facing the police with criminals inside the force and police criminally protecting them.

For me, I choose to believe he threw the gun when getting out of the car. I don't think the cops would have planted the gun as far away from the body as he threw it. If you're going to execute a guy and plant a gun why would you be planting it so far from him?

Re: The Mark Duggan verdict. : Wed Jan 08, 2014 9:38 pm  

Stand-Offish wrote:

Yes, but that is part of the problem that we and more importantly the police have.
Prejudging a situation and the person involved.

I agree - However, I think people like Duggan are a stain on society and, as such, I won't lose any sleep over his demise.

To compare his death with Hillsborough is laughable - One was the death of 96 innocent people watching a football match, the other was the death of a toerag who would probably have met an early death anyway - Unfortunately, it just happened to be at the hands of the police, giving his family and cohorts the chance to have their time in the limelight, crying injustice and other laughable nonsense.

Re: The Mark Duggan verdict. : Wed Jan 08, 2014 9:39 pm  

There is still an IPCC enquiry into this incident so posters should be very careful what they write.
I doubt whether any of you have ever been in a position to make a shoot/no shoot decision in a split second. Much easier to judge from behind the safety of the keyboard, eh?