I have just read that squatters took over an oligarch’s house in Belgravia yesterday as a protest, but I also read that there are at least ten police vehicles and thirty officers on scene trying to get them out again.
Two things then, isn’t squatting legal and a civil matter, and would the same resources be deployed if was a terrace house in Huddersfield?
An absolute waste of police time and resources in my opinion, what with that and investigating “partygate” who on earth is prioritising police resources these days, Dumb and Dumber?..
we mentioned the waste of police resources and the unfairness of it all yesterday, but I can’t remember which thread.
Good to have a thread of its own!
The protesters were removed and arrested weren’t they?
Of course they should be investigating any offences at Downing St ordinary people have been punished for the same thing. The question should be why is it taking so long?
Although most of the sanctions announced by the UK Government sound great on paper they really are pretty meaningless when it comes to the individuals they have named as having sanctions as it will take a fair bit of time to put the legal framework in place and seizing property is not something the government can do at the moment if ever.
Squatting in residential buildings (like a house or flat) is illegal. It can lead to 6 months in prison, a £5,000 fine or both, so the police were correct in this instance.
Personally I find it a travesty to deploy such huge resources against some things that are so relatively trivial, when virtually every type of crime, particularly violent crime, is on the increase everywhere. If Joe Soap has a burglary the police don’t even bother to turn up these days to investigate, just give you a crime number for your insurance and forget about it.
True it is an offence. But I have seen & experienced the police ignoring offences. So why in this instance did they act?
My wife is a nurse & she & several others were attacked & in effect held hostage inside a building by someone threatning to attack them & throwing bricks at the buildings windows & roof. Three times they called the police. Three times the police refused to come out. And it was not until someone else was attacked by this person in the hospital grounds that the police attended & then it took an intervention from a senior manager at the trust to get something done & the police claimed no phone calls had been received. Thankfully, they had made detailed notes in hospital records of all three calls. And thus within a legal document.
I have also reported a 40 foot plus tree being cut 95% through & left standing with a chainsaw stuck in it. I was asked to report it directly to the police as an act of criminal damage & as a serious safety risk by a councillor, as the tree was within 20 feet of some flats & less than 3 feet from a footpath. The police failed to attended until City Council’s chief exec contacted them & asked what they were doing. They admitted nothing & tried to say they knew nothing about it.
So the police can & do routinely ignore real issues that they SHOULD be dealing with. So strange that on this occasion they choose to act.
