The footage below shows how badly wrong things can go when routinely equipped frontline officers attempt to bring someone into custody. The end result of this attempt to bring a 25 year-old suspect for kidnapping and assault offences into custody was five injured officers – four of them believed to still be in hospital with serious injuries.
Refreshingly, mayoral candidate Jenny Jones has made her opinion on the situation very clear stating that officers failed to do their homework prior to the arrest attempt. She believes that consideration should have been given to the potential for a dangerous dog to be on the premises. This is a lovely sentiment but maybe it doesn’t go far enough.
Having banged on the front door of more addresses unexpectedly containing someone illegally in the country (and willing to fight to remain here), wanted by French authorities, that only spoke Mandarin Chinese or was deceased than contained a dangerous dog. Perhaps a new policy should be drawn up to address the concerns Jenny Jones raises.
In future I shall ask my control room Inspector to arrange for not only a taser equipped public order or firearms team to attend with me, but also immigration, representatives from la Gendarmerie, a mandarin interpreter and undertakers just in case the unexpected happens.
Get a grip Jenny – we cannot possibly be blamed for this incident on the basis of poor planning. This incident was at one of more than 1,500 visits made as part of a 48-hour operation which saw hundreds of officers carrying out searches for people wanted by police or who had failed to appear at court.
Anyway…sit back and watch this video clip of the incident unfolding. Be warned that the footage includes scenes of officers being mauled and the animal ultimately being shot. When you have watched it, let me know whether you think anyone in uniform should be blamed for what happened…
