Screw Chief Inspector Fish & the public that he claims expect the police to salve their consciences by keeping the wretched from public view.Adam Jaskowiak told the Ilford Recorder how he was sleeping with eight others in the former Ilford baths in east London when police officers arrived and took their belongings, including sleeping bags, and put them in a police car.
Jaskowiak, 34, said: "They were just taking the sleeping bags and chucking out everything. I asked to keep it and the food, but they said no. I just grabbed as many of my things as possible and put them into a bag and ran."
[...]
Ilford chief inspector John Fish told the newspaper: "The public rely on police to reduce the negative impact of rough sleepers. This includes the need for us to assist in the removal of temporary structures, tents, and bedding from public spaces and other inappropriate locations."
Johnson said he would be contacting police and the mayor of London to ensure similar confiscations do not take place. "The police's actions were wholly unacceptable, putting vulnerable people at greater risk of harm. We need to offer rough sleepers support and social housing, not persecution.
If a police officer grabbed, say, a bag or purse from most citizens & either kept or disposed of it (even as part of a legitimate arrest) the officer would be punished at least a little, you know, if someone who gave a shit found out. But grabbing anything belonging to rough sleepers & doing whatever w/ it is a legitimate police function. (Apparently transients are allowed to have as much property as they can keep in their arms.*) No house, no money, no power, no rights.
*Would be a good thing if applied to every last one of you fucking apes.
3 comments:
Apes, you say?
~
Yep, apes.
Here in the Silly Cone Valley, a lawsuit by homeless advocates ended that kind of bullshit. Anything the coppers seize in one of their sweeps has to be labeled and stored so that the homeless can retrieve it later. Among other things it means that when they do their sweeps, now they give the homeless several days notice to go elsewhere before dropping in and cleaning up whatever park they're running the homeless out of today. Because they don't like having to bag'n'tag stinky lice-ridden bedding'n'stuff.
But of course, we have this little Constitution thingy here in the Untied States that sez the coppers can't just take your shit and throw it in the trash because they don't like you. As little as it's actually obeyed by coppers today (who wipe their ass with the Constitution and laugh when you mention it to them), that's still more than the Brits have.
- Badtux the Housed Penguin
Post a Comment