Comment

Comment on Man carrying home his gardening tools arrested by armed police in Manchester

When he was arrested, Rowe said, the officer pulled the trowel out of its sheath, and said: “That’s not a garden tool.”

“I said it is, because it was in the Niwaki-branded pouch that you get at garden centres,” Rowe said.

Rowe said police had questioned him on whether he was “planning on doing something” with the tools, and he said he was also asked to explain what an allotment was.

“I had to explain in very basic terms what an allotment is to this guy,” he said. “So it didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence that I was going to be let off.”

Manchester’s brightest at work. Experts enough to know what is and isn’t a garden tool but don’t know what an allotment is 🙄 ACAB

source

Sort:hotnew top

Flax_vert@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
These cops are bastards. Some cops are nice and genuine. This isn’t America.

source
- Zombie@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  ACAB is legitimate here. It’s not a Trumpism. Day to day community policing, yes, you can have good interactions with them. But they also have no qualms smashing a peaceful protestor over the head with a baton if they’re allowed as well. There’s been enough stories of corruption and abuse within multiple UK police forces, throughout its history and in modern times, to say ACAB.
  
  Also, is it fuck a fair kingdom.
  
  source
  - Flax_vert@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Loud minority. Everytime I have been involved with the police they went above and beyond.
    
    source
    Zombie@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Unfortunately your anecdotal evidence doesn’t change history. My experience has been very mixed bag. Some have been despicable bastards and some, as you said, have gone above and beyond. But their history, and government inquiries confirming institutional racism etc cements them still in the bastard category.
    
    I do believe they’re improving, the force isn’t just 6ft+ white, straight, cis, British men any more. It’s diverse enough that homophobia, racism, etc are challenged and not tolerated like they once were, but it still happens. They’re still not good enough to throw off the badge of ACAB.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
    tamal3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    A middle class white lady in the US would probably concur regarding her own police experiences
    
    source
- AnarchistArtificer@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  ACAB applies even for the nice and genuine cops.
  
  It’s about criticisms of policing as an institution, not individuals
  
  source
  - Flax_vert@feddit.uk ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    
    It’s about criticisms of policing as an institution, not individuals
    
    No, ACAB literally means “all cops are bastards”. It removes room for ambiguity. It’s not like someone saying “fuck the police”. And then they can say “I mean the institution”.
    
    source
- LilB0kChoy@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  
  These cops are bastards. Some cops are nice and genuine.
  
  This is true pretty much everywhere, even America.
  
  source
  - Flax_vert@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Then why do Americans constantly say “all cops are bastards?”
    
    source
    LilB0kChoy@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    
    It's a slogan used as a protest statement, particularly within anti-establishment and anti-police movements. The acronym has a long history, particularly within subcultures like punk, skinheads, and football hooligans. It's also associated with anarchist and anti-authoritarian ideologies.
    
    It also originated in England.
    
    source
    Whirling_Ashandarei@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    America is not nearly based enough for Americans to “constantly say” that, unfortunately.
    
    source
- pyre@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  acab was true way before mango mussolini was even born
  
  source
someguy3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I’m pretty sure they’re quizzing him about allotment, something a gardener should know.

source
- Flax_vert@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  He should have waited for a solicitor.
  
  source
  - someguy3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Don’t talk to the police.
    
    source
  - Worx@lemmynsfw.com ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    
    Rowe said he was interviewed without legal representation as officers had been unable to reach a solicitor, and after spending several hours in custody he said he accepted a caution so he would be released.
    
    He was stopped at 12:20pm, it’s not like everyone had gone home for the day. What’s he supposed to do at that point? He’s already been waiting “several hours”, it’s not like there’s gonna be more solicitors working after five o’clock. It sucks, but being able to go home and fight it afterwards seems like the best option. Especially with national news coverage on your side
    
    source
    Flax_vert@feddit.uk ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Possibly. It seems like a situation where an autistic man was banged up in an unpleasant cell and they broke him.
    
    I do not know if overturning a caution is as easy as avoiding it. Heard people getting similar police records and being unable to overturn them at all because they weren’t convictions.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments