Police shooting in London

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.guardian.c...-london?newsfeed=true

/// A police spokesman said "a number of knives" were found at the scene and added that officers were meeting the local community to ensure "they are aware of the facts of this incident".///

Why do the police have to explain their actions to the 'Local Community', are they scared it might set off a riot?

One report says he was brandishing a large knife or sword, and that there were a number of knives at the scene.

[New Judge]

But I don't think the local community had the actions of the police "explained" to them in the Mote case (just a few hours after the event) in quite the same way as I imagine the local community in Forest Hill has been, sp.

[sp1814]

I see where you're going with you point NJ, although I don't believe that without the shooting of Duggan last year, the police would have automatically thought of explaining their actions to community leaders.

This is something brand new.

[New Judge]

Hmmm.... My jury is still out, sp !!!!!

[exdc]

Redhelen, was it 1950 that rules of disclosure changed?

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

You asked for the proportion of whites who died while in police custody.

I am sorry although I set them out in an orderly way, some figures got rather jumbled up by the AB system.

But I thought it was clear in the paragraph that was not jumbled up, that "The vast majority (87%) of those dying in police custody were white", so that should make for 13% not being white.

Although it doesn't show the percentage of the different reasons for dying among the black detainees specifically, it shows that the vast number of both black & white die from their own actions,(63%) followed by their medical condition, (29%) and the rest (8%) by another persons actions (not specifically the police's).

[sp1814]

AOG

I *knew* I hadn't asked the question properly.

Yes - 87% of those who die in custody are white, but as a statistic is that much different from the number of non-whites who die in custody.

Bear with me - I'll rephrase...

If 100,000 whites are arrested in a year, which percentage of those die in custody.

If If 75,000 non-whites are arrested in a year, which percentage of those die in custody.

The 87% gives us an overall figure, but my point is that for each group, the proportion of people who die in custody may actually be similar.

To take it to it's logical extent...if one Aborigine was arrested and died of a heart attach whilst in the cells, the percentage of Aborigines who died in police custody that year would be 100%...which would look bad...

[anotheoldgit]

Thank you for trying to make it a little more clearer, but I still cannot see how it is mainly blacks who die in custody..

It was stated in the report that there are numerous reasons why some die in custody.

It could be that some groups in some areas are more likely to be arrested, some could resist arrest more than others, weapons could be brought into use to prevent arrest, thus making it necessary for the police to act accordingly, some could die from the use of drugs or alcohol or from medical problems, some could be killed by fellow inmates, and also by their own hand.

[sp1814]

AOG

Right - I've got it...we're talking about skewed points. What I was referring to earlier is that there have been many deaths in police custody of black arrestees, but these hadn't triggered riots, so even though the shooting of Mark Duggan *did*, we shouldn't assume this latest case would.

I wasn't trying to suggest that the *majority* of deaths in police custody were of blacks.

[anotheoldgit]

Once again sp thanks for clearing this up.

May I add that it was suggested not only by me, but also by many on the media, that the police decided to learn from their experiences prior to those that set off the riots.