UK society is not collapsing and we are able to police ourselves against criminals of opportunity without the deployment of lethal force and adding that we have and are able to apply even that. Which is what kicked off these 'riots' in the first place, but I'm sure you are all aware of that.
UK society is not collapsing
Point Dog
Woof Point Dog,
I'm sure the 4 dead so far will be eternally grateful for that. :-P
A 68-year-old man who was set upon as he tried to stamp out a fire during the London riots has died, becoming the fourth victim in three days of explosive violence that rocked the capital.
Richard Mannington Bowes was badly beaten, suffering head injuries, in Ealing, West London on Tuesday morning (NZT) after remonstrating with teenagers who were setting fire to two industrial bins outside a shopping centre.
Officers who went to his aid were pelted with missiles and driven off, leaving the senior citizen to fend for himself against his assailant.
The Ealing resident was placed on a life-support machine following the attack, but died this morning, Scotland Yard said.
"This was a brutal incident that resulted in the senseless killing of an innocent man," Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane, of the Met's Homicide and Serious Crime Command said.
"I still need the assistance of the community who may have witnessed the attack on Richard, to come forward and provide information or images they may have recorded on mobile devices. This information could be crucial in catching his killer."
Police have issued two CCTV images of a man suspected of carrying out the assault, and said he was actively engaged in the rioting and looting that devastated the area. Detectives say the suspect also appears to be known to a large number of youth in the area.
Cameron vows to fight back
British Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to hunt down just such criminals and opportunistic looters he blamed for Britain's worst violence in decades, but acknowledged that police tactics had failed at the start of the rioting.
"The fightback has well and truly begun," the Conservative leader, grappling with a defining crisis of his 15-month-old premiership, told an emergency session of parliament.
"As to the lawless minority, the criminals who've taken what they can get, I say this: We will track you down, we will find you, we will charge you, we will punish you. You will pay for what you have done," Cameron said.
Police have arrested more than 1,200 people across England, filling cells and forcing courts to work through the night to process hundreds of cases.
Community leaders say inequality, cuts to public services by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government and youth unemployment fed into the violence in London, Birmingham, Manchester and other multi-ethnic cities.
Cameron is under pressure from different quarters to ease his austerity plans, toughen policing and do more for inner-city communities, even as economic malaise grips a nation whose social and racial tensions exploded in four nights of mayhem.
But he denied deprivation or planned government spending cuts, mostly not yet implemented, had caused the riots.
"This is not about poverty, it's about culture. A culture that glorifies violence, shows disrespect to authority, and says everything about rights but nothing about responsibilities," Cameron said.
The initial police response was inadequate, Cameron told legislators who had been recalled from their summer break. "There were simply far too few police deployed on to the streets. And the tactics they were using weren't working."
Defending planned police funding cuts against criticism from opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband, Cameron proposed more police powers, including the right to demand that people remove face coverings if they are suspected of crime.
Advertisement
"I hope that in the debates we have on the causes we don't fall into a tiresome discussion about resources," said Cameron.
"When you have deep moral failures you don't hit them with a wall of money."
Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said this week a 20 percent cut in police funding until 2015, planned by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, would pose great challenges.
"I do sense without question resentment (among police officers) that they are now being portrayed in the routine as corrupt, unprofessional and need sorting out," he told Reuters.
The British leader said he would maintain a higher police presence of 16,000 officers on London streets through the weekend and would consider calling in the army for secondary roles in future unrest to free up frontline police.
And he promised to compensate people whose property was damaged by rioters, even if they were uninsured. The riots will cost insurers more than 200 million pounds, ($323 million), the Association of British Insurers said, doubling its previous claims estimate.
The increase came as British prime minister David Cameron said an 1886 law that allows insurers to pass on some of the cost of riot-related claims to the police will apply, with the government ready to make up any funding shortfall.
"The government will ensure the police have the funds they need to meet the cost of any legitimate claims," Cameron said in parliament, adding that the deadline for filing claims would be extended to 42 days from 14.
Under the Riots (Damages) Act, uninsured businesses and households, as well as insurers facing riot-related claims from their customers, can seek partial compensation from the police.
Cameron, who has already authorised police to use baton rounds and water cannon where necessary, said he would explore curbs on the use of social media tools if these were being used to plot "violence, disorder and criminality".
Public fury over looting
Many Britons were appalled at the scenes on their streets, from the televised mugging of an injured Malaysian teenager to a Polish woman photographed leaping from a burning building, as well as the looting of anything from baby clothes to TV sets.
But occupying the moral high ground is tricky in a country where some lawmakers and policemen have been embroiled in expenses and bribery scandals, and top bankers take huge bonuses even as the taxpayer bails out financial institutions.
The unrest flared first in north London after police shot dead a black man. That disturbance then mutated into widespread looting and violence.
British leaders are concerned the rioting could damage confidence in the economy and in London, one of the world's biggest financial centres and venue for next year's Olympics.
The prime minister said criminal street gangs were at the heart of the violence. "Territorial, hierarchical and incredibly violent, they are mostly composed of young boys, mainly from dysfunctional homes," he added.
Arguing that police, local government and voluntary workers needed to work together to stop inner-city street gangs, as they had in American cities such as Boston, he said: "I want this to be a national priority."
YES YOU READ THAT FIRST PART RIGHT THE COPS WERE THERE BUT COULDN'T SAVE THE GUY FROM BEING BEAT TO DEATH! THEY RAN AWAY, LEAVING HIM THERE TO FIGHT ON HIS OWN! :-o :-o :-o
[/b][/u]
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/fourth-death-uk-riots-4349121 (http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/fourth-death-uk-riots-4349121)
P.C.