Now they hunt in packs

[Old Mike]

Child gang attacks police after litter warning

By Chris Greenwood
Saturday, 19 July 2008

A police officer was kicked, beaten and bitten when he was attacked by a gang of schoolchildren, some wearing uniform, when he asked a girl to pick up litter she had dropped.

The officer, who was patrolling a shopping precinct in Croydon, south London, with a colleague, was pulled to the ground during the assault by the group of up to 30 children and adults in the incident on Wednesday.
The 34-year-old officer said yesterday that the gang had behaved worse than animals. "[The girl] just threw litter on the floor and we asked if she could pick that up," he said. "As we walked away, she threw it at us. Then we went back to talk to her. They swarmed at the start. They feel they can overcome you like a gang. It was a good 30-plus youths.
"It is the behaviour. It is unbelievable... that someone could bite another human being like that. They were acting like animals, but I hate using the term 'animals' because animals would not do that. They have a reason for doing something."
The officer, who asked not to be named, said one 15-year-old girl had repeatedly bitten him on the shoulder and torso. A colleague who raced to his aid was pulled to the ground and kicked by others as several older men and women joined the fracas.
At one point more than 30 people were involved in the fight in North End, a popular after-school hangout for young people.
Detectives are studying CCTV footage of the attack, hoping to identify all of those involved.
The 15-year-old girl was arrested at the scene on suspicion of assault. She has since been released on bail. The officer said that when her parents arrived at the police station they complained that the start of her summer holiday had been disrupted.
Two men, aged 34 and 38, were arrested yesterday in South Norwood, south London on suspicion of assault and violent disorder.
The police constable, who was recovering from his bite injuries, added: "It depresses you about the state of children today, the disrespect, not only for people who might not be in the police but anyone who is older. They think, 'I want respect, I want respect'. They keep going on about it. Telling people, 'I am going to F you up' is a favourite saying. It is dreadful."
Inspector Simon Ellingham said: "We have heard from several retailers in the area who were horrified at the level of violence used by the crowd against the officers. While we would never use the word 'mob', which is an inflammatory word, we can confirm that witnesses have described their initial fear that officers were going to be seriously injured or killed."

Local shop workers were reluctant to talk about the incident, but one 27-year-old, who declined to give his name, said: "I noticed that there were a group of girls sitting on the benches over there.

"Two police officers approached one of them, I don't know what it was over, but I think they were trying to arrest her. The other girls were trying to stop her being arrested, and then about half of Croydon turned up to see what was going on. There were at least 100 people out there, which made it difficult to see what was going on. At one point I could see the girl was handcuffed and on the floor. It was quite a bad incident, but I'm not surprised, because it's Croydon."

Neil Sullivan, 34, watched the aftermath of the incident from a window, He said: "From about three in the afternoon you see large gangs of 30 or 40 kids on North End, and it is daunting for shopkeepers and shoppers."

[cmdsea]

AAAhhhh Croydon.... Argos, Brentford Nylons (oops, Brentfords)Sunset over the Whitgift Centre.

Reminds me why im here 

[SteveG]

Wow, I still can't believe what I just read. 

[Dr. Phil]

The streets of London Boroughs are littered with young "innocent" Caribbean delinquents meanwhile two policemen on foot patrol arrest a young girl for littering? LOL.
I really feel for the valiant boys in blue. 

[Global Roamer]

The streets of London Boroughs are littered with young "innocent" Caribbean delinquents meanwhile two policemen on foot patrol arrest a young girl for littering? LOL.
I really feel for the valiant boys in blue. 

That is rather racists don't you think?   The streets of London Boroughs are NOT littered with young Caribbean delinquents (I believe you mean simply blacks)?  Delinquents exist in all ethnic groups. 

[Dr. Phil]

We have very serious problems with Afro-Caribbeans in UK and an open door policy which fills our classrooms with 9 immigrants out of every 10 children is unsustainable. All children are held back academically because of linguistic or religious difficulties which are exacerbated when immigrants are encouraged to "flex their muscles" and demand special treatment.

We have so many immigrants in UK many and many from Asia enrich our society and make good citizens but we have to be discriminating and reject those unlikely or unwilling to integrate.

I rather think its those who make excuses for these people who are the real racists.

[Global Roamer]

We have very serious problems with Afro-Caribbeans in UK and an open door policy which fills our classrooms with 9 immigrants out of every 10 children is unsustainable. All children are held back academically because of linguistic or religious difficulties which are exacerbated when immigrants are encouraged to "flex their muscles" and demand special treatment.

We have so many immigrants in UK many and many from Asia enrich our society and make good citizens but we have to be discriminating and reject those unlikely or unwilling to integrate.

I rather think its those who make excuses for these people who are the real racists.

You really are a racist pratt and a very ignorant one at that!  Fact: most of the Afro-Caribbeans are born here and are in fact British Nationals.  Ask yourself this; when was the last mass immigration of Afro-Carribbeans to the UK?  The 1940's!  Even then they are English speaking and they do not, I repeat do not and never have made up 9 out of 10 children in the classroom that is total bullshit!    Since you are so keen on promoting your brand of uninformed and racist baloney here maybe you would like to include the Poles, Turks, Greeks and Kurds and the races of the many other European countries that have a legitimate right to enter live and work in the UK and have a far more profound effect than any of the cultures you mention.  You are talking through your arse half-wit!

[Dr. Phil]

We have very serious problems with Afro-Caribbeans in UK and an open door policy which fills our classrooms with 9 immigrants out of every 10 children is unsustainable. All children are held back academically because of linguistic or religious difficulties which are exacerbated when immigrants are encouraged to "flex their muscles" and demand special treatment.

We have so many immigrants in UK many and many from Asia enrich our society and make good citizens but we have to be discriminating and reject those unlikely or unwilling to integrate.

I rather think its those who make excuses for these people who are the real racists.

You really are a racist pratt and a very ignorant one at that!  Fact: most of the Afro-Caribbeans are born here and are in fact British Nationals.  Ask yourself this; when was the last mass immigration of Afro-Carribbeans to the UK?  The 1940's!  Even then they are English speaking and they do not, I repeat do not and never have made up 9 out of 10 children in the classroom that is total bullshit!    Since you are so keen on promoting your brand of uninformed and racist baloney here maybe you would like to include the Poles, Turks, Greeks and Kurds and the races of the many other European countries that have a legitimate right to enter live and work in the UK and have a far more profound effect than any of the cultures you mention.  You are talking through your arse half-wit!

Well I would like to include Albanians since they are dominant players in the drugs, guns and human traffiking business throughout Europe and as far as Afghanistan.

The Poles are great. We need more and I would like to see more eastern Europeans in UK also Germans and French but they are more discriminating.

However the children of Albanians, born in UK are British and act and feel British; yours do not. Why is that?
 

[michael539]

Sounds like the norm where I am from: Atlanta.  Except there, the kid's parents would sue the officer post-beating for defamation of character of the poor darlings- or something else.  And in court, the kids would win.

[Ade]

When I lived in London, anecdotal evidence was that most of the street crime was being committed by Afro-Caribbeans. When I moved to Manchester, street crime was a million times worse but there was only a small Afro-Caribbean community. The criminals were mostly white, British youths and children.

When I moved to the south of France crime seemed to be committed mostly by alienated North Africans.

My conclusion: Crime is committed by the least well-off groups in society and it has nothing to do with race.

[Dr. Phil]

When I lived in London, anecdotal evidence was that most of the street crime was being committed by Afro-Caribbeans. When I moved to Manchester, street crime was a million times worse but there was only a small Afro-Caribbean community. The criminals were mostly white, British youths and children.

When I moved to the south of France crime seemed to be committed mostly by alienated North Africans.

My conclusion: Crime is committed by the least well-off groups in society and it has nothing to do with race.

Sadly, sympathetic posts like yours convey the belief that the real injustice is belonging to the "least well off" part of the community.
Booo Hooo. 

Convincing an electorate that they are "victims" or the "down-trodden" has always been a fundamental cornerstone of socialism and in UK this is key to the election of past Labour governments.
There also has to be envy. There will come aggression.

How many of you will vote to destroy a perceived injustice? Do you have a negative "destructive" vote or a positive "constructive" vote?

However I disagree with you because socialists in UK and liberals in USA cultivate the belief that Afro-Caribbeans are and will always be cheated as part of a conspiracy. This wrong-foots the majority of voters (who are not Afro-Caribbean) who watch impassivly as their political leaders embark on costly and damaging programmes to give special treatment to these minority groups.

Once the effects of these programmes are felt, perhaps enhanced by recession, indiginous youths, not just white but all those victims of positive discrimination, will eventually react violently to receiving second-class treatment by ideologically motivated politicians who were elected to represent their interests.

And in London and Manchester much violence on our streets is linked to turf wars; battles for the control of the distribution of drugs.

[Ade]

When I lived in London, anecdotal evidence was that most of the street crime was being committed by Afro-Caribbeans. When I moved to Manchester, street crime was a million times worse but there was only a small Afro-Caribbean community. The criminals were mostly white, British youths and children.

When I moved to the south of France crime seemed to be committed mostly by alienated North Africans.

My conclusion: Crime is committed by the least well-off groups in society and it has nothing to do with race.

Sadly, sympathetic posts like yours convey the belief that the real injustice is belonging to the "least well off" part of the community.
Booo Hooo. 

Convincing an electorate that they are "victims" or the "down-trodden" has always been a fundamental cornerstone of socialism and in UK this is key to the election of past Labour governments.
There also has to be envy. There will come aggression.

How many of you will vote to destroy a perceived injustice? Do you have a negative "destructive" vote or a positive "constructive" vote?

However I disagree with you because socialists in UK and liberals in USA cultivate the belief that Afro-Caribbeans are and will always be cheated as part of a conspiracy. This wrong-foots the majority of voters (who are not Afro-Caribbean) who watch impassivly as their political leaders embark on costly and damaging programmes to give special treatment to these minority groups.

Once the effects of these programmes are felt, perhaps enhanced by recession, indiginous youths, not just white but all those victims of positive discrimination, will eventually react violently to receiving second-class treatment by ideologically motivated politicians who were elected to represent their interests.

And in London and Manchester much violence on our streets is linked to turf wars; battles for the control of the distribution of drugs.

I am not sure on what basis you are disagreeing with me as I have not made any political or even ethical assertions. I have simply stated an observation that in a handful of cities I have lived in, street crime would appear to be committed by the least affluent sectors of society (regardless of their ethnicity).

It’s a fairly obvious observation but one that would refute the assertions of the criminal anthropologists that certain races are more prone to criminal behaviour than others.

[Nosey Parker]

Interesting Dr. Phil, but unless I missed something in the article, nothing was mentioned about the race of the offenders.   This was not about arresting a girl for littering, it was about the pack mentality of adolescents and some daft adults. 

I guess if the article was specifically about black youth in Croydon, you would have been a bit more outraged - right?!

[Dr. Phil]

Are you referring to the numerous murders on the streets of London, almost all black on black violence. If you disagree they are not committed by Afro-Carribeans then it only shows I am better informed.

If you talk about a young child littering in a playground (her domain), then her ethnicity is irrelevant.

She is a child and if this were a crime we'd all have criminal records.

Incidentally, what punishment did the police officer envisage for one so young, if any? This was a "soft" arrest to meet government imposed targets; targets which change monthly rather than let the police chief constables prioritise the crimes in their county and allocate resources accordingly.

Let's not forget this little girl could also have received a criminal record. I hope she gave his a good kick.