Its pretty sickening that Im not even surprised by this story.

This is what the UK has become

Yep that geezer looks frightening, milky, milky, lol.

I think most of do not get shocked any more, with the absurd rubbish that going on especially in england. Just another nutter working for the police going after easy targets.

I wonder where these "tactics" are coming from. Are the the result of policy decisions being made at a higher level?
If so, what is the reasoning behind these policies?
It could also be an emergent policy that has been formed over time as well.
What I mean by this is, say, there is a noted trend in particularly troublesome or disruptive individuals during demonstrations to steal walking sticks and use them as weapons. Why bring a weapon when you can just grab a guy's walking stick?

Granted: I am really stretching here to make a concession in hopes that this is just some freakish anomaly culminating in what appears to be a substantially embarassing story for the bobbies.
I find it rediculous to presume this man could or would be a threat to any other able-bodied person and while a walking stick CAN be used as a weapon, consider the carrier for crying out loud. What's next, stealing walking sticks from blind people?

When I saw the short docu about the 200 people arrested for simply sitting in a park in Minnesota while demonstrations were happening _elsewhere_ around the city, the first thing that came to mind was that this was a warning shot for citizens to not be around when a known altercation between the authorities and crowds of people are happening.

If I am correct, then this guy getting his cane taken away could be another such example and we can expect more of this kind of thing to happen i the future.

Eventually, it will be more overt and they will simply tell people to stay at home for their own safety due to the dangerous and violent protests.
Free speech zones are just the beginning.

The tactics are an overt abuse of power and fear to say to everyone: fascism is in your face, you have no rights. There have to be groups of people funding class actions against governments and police and ensuring that these fascists are gone.

Perhaps the police saw the Lord of the Rings trilogy too many times and thought he was Gandolf and was going to cast Magic Missle upon people...

What is sad is the purported "laws" that are supposed to protect people. I remember when I was in California...I had to register with the Sherrif's department because I have several black belts and am considerred by them to be a dangerous weapon walking around. Nothing like that here in Tennessee. Here we see older women in pairs walking the streets to get excercise...with Bats! The police never say anything to them because they know the reasons why.

I find any State or Country that would make elderly people give up any weapon, as long as it was not being radically swung around, a sad excuse and a bad place to live. So he had a walking stick...that was 3 feet long. A cane is 3 feet long, and there are martial arts that teach cane fighting/defense. maybe something someone should tell the older generation where purported laws conflict with thier RIGHT to walk in public.

The biggest problem with the police today is a complete and utter lack of common sense. They are trained to view everything in black or white, no leeway or cutting someone some slack like the good old days and sending them on their way with a polite verbal arse slapping. That used to gain them respect and acceptance in the community as people who could be trusted and counted on for support.
Sadly most, if not all, of the officers I used to know in my home town all left the force in disgust long ago due to the targets and attitude of the senior officers. What happened then was the recruiting of anyone who could fit into a uniform, even to the extent of taking on people previously rejected!

This is like my 85 year old grandfather, WWII vet who served two tours, and could barely move from parkinsons, was searched, TWICE, at the airport.
Now really.

If he was a terrorist trying to take the plane, that plane would of circled the earth three times before he even shuffled up the aisle.
Now that I am harping on my grandpa, he was the greatest man I knew, he was taken by a god awful disease.

But the fact is, he didn't pose any more of a threat then a newborn kitten. Yet energy and resources were wasted to search him twice, just because he was in a hurry.

What are the messages these officials are sending us?

They have no common sense, are insecure, and because of that they cannot be trusted, especially to protect us.

Originally posted by mystiq
The tactics are an overt abuse of power and fear to say to everyone: fascism is in your face, you have no rights. There have to be groups of people funding class actions against governments and police and ensuring that these fascists are gone.

In addition, for the overall plan to rule the world, there can not be an overwhelming amount of people that have "weapons" that could overthrow their authority. It's a scare tactic that works in most parts of any country.

Threaten people to take away anything, or they will go to jail, & most people will make concessions.
This is where we come in ( insert Major Confidence or rebellion) whichever you wish to call it...lol

at lest the laws are a little different here in the US a cane or walking stick can only be called a weapon if its used as a weapon.

you can even walk onto a air plane with one.

if a cop took one from a 78 year old man like the UK cops did they would find out about what a group of orgenizations like the ACLU AARP CBS NBC FOX and ABC were.

Thank you so much, officers, for saving us from this terrible man's walking stick. I hear you're planning on getting a warrant for his arrest next week for not returning some poor child's soccer ball, and for not watering his lawn. You have our eternal gratitude. Oh whatever would we ever do without you to defend us from this scum of society?

Perhaps it WAS actually an 'offensive weapon'. It's very easy to pick up a cane that doubles as a sheathed sword or perhaps had a knife in the handle.

I suspect the media was sensationalizing it and not giving the ENTIRE story 'cause they are so anti-police.

But I expect people will argue that that NEVER happens, right?

Do our Police get paid on commision? Whats the deal here it's like they wake up

''What shall we do today? I know i'll piss on my *serve and protect* duties and aggro some old person who is BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS to everyone else is just an old bloke with a walking stick...''

You couldn't write this stuff for crying out loud... It's like -

GO DO YOUR EFFING JOB STUPID FISH BRAINED POLICEMAN

Okay now i've got my rant out the way can I just say how glad I am not all policeman are like this (I personally know a few good ones who really want to make UK better place to be) and things like this make them sick.

These 'tard policemen are treated like assclowns in the force and when they do stupid, timewasting things like these I know for a fact they are just idiots and HOPEFULLY the good police wont tolerate this crap and rip them new ones...