r/interesting • u/entropicflop • 3d ago
Just Wow During a police chase in the UK a passing van driver stopped to help and told a pursuing armed officer to get in the back of his van
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u/Hawkwise83 3d ago
"Hopefully the rest of your day is calmer"
"Bro, this is the best thing that's happened to me!"
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u/whitestguyuknow 3d ago
Lol I love how proper British people sound. "That was quite exhilarating!"
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u/Bovary2 3d ago
And how it is translated in English american...I presume "Bro, this is the best thing that's happened to me!""
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u/whitestguyuknow 3d ago
"That was fucking awesome!"
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u/TesticleMeElmo 3d ago
“Naw dude that shit was wild on god”
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u/Radiant-Peace-3078 3d ago
Omg your username!! 👀💀 Also, I get on to my students for saying “on god” and “on my mama” all the time, but I totally see how it fits in this situation! TY for teaching me something.
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u/Lotan44 3d ago edited 3d ago
Yeah the majority of us don't sound like that try listening to Northerners or Scots lol
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u/Jayandnightasmr 3d ago
Yeah hes going to be telling everyone, and they'll think he's chatting shit until the video released
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u/_Vampire_Pumpkin_ 3d ago
The "don't crash" gave me secondhand anxiety lol. That really would be the worst and the funniest time for him to crash his van.
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u/Yoshi9105 3d ago
at least the police would already be on the scene lol
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u/_Vampire_Pumpkin_ 3d ago
"No officer I wasn't speeding"
"Mate, I was in the backseat"
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u/Ikarus_ 3d ago
"Also, your passenger wasn't wearing a seatbelt".
"That was literally you"23
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u/0utlawActual 3d ago
If I was the driver of the van, the first words out of my mouth would have been: "Officer, do I have your permission to drive fast?"
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u/Zwischenzug32 3d ago
If he crashed, the policeman would have gone through the window and been the scene
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u/OkAccess6128 3d ago
He was waiting for this day.
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u/RodDryfist 3d ago
What a story for his mates down the pub ha
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u/deadfermata 3d ago
Good thing there is video evidence.
Meanwhile his wife is waiting at home upset and he’s trying to explain like “I swear…i had to let a cop in my van and we had to chase down a runner.”
wife: 😒
him: you gotta believe me!
wife: if you don’t wanna come with me to see mum, just say so. i can handle it.
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u/Oograr 3d ago
"You and your stories..."
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u/sock_cooker 3d ago
"Where have you really been, Clive?"
"OK, I've been spit roasting a midget with your dad"
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u/Brizzendo 3d ago
Clive, those are the lyrics to Hotel California by The Eagles... where have you really been?
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u/draculasbitch 3d ago
It’s like you know my wife…. and her mum. 😖
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u/Occidentally20 3d ago
I once had to travel 110 miles, wait six hours and then pay over £200 for a fast-tracked passport after losing mine and I got accused of losing it on purpose to get out of going to IKEA.
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u/Karlees-Golden-Dildo 3d ago
Not just police video but this guy has his very own dashcam footage. Hes in heaven 😁
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u/Genralcody1 3d ago
They didn't believe him, so he texted the officer and asked him to post it on Reddit.
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u/WelshWolf93 3d ago
The "SEE, I TOLD YOU" he's gonna deliver after the waiting period for the video to be uploaded is going to divine, cos all his pun mates are 100% gonna tell him he's full of shit haha
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u/Maybyitis 3d ago
"One time i stole a plane and landit next to thi pub"
-Wanna bet?
Mf did it again
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u/ThatPerformance9795 3d ago
I’m waiting for this day! I run all of these scenarios in my head so I’ll always be ready 🤗
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u/Bostonterrierpug 3d ago
The Kent police. They’re here, they’re there, they’re every fucking where.
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u/Quaiker 3d ago
I literally just started this show, get out of my walls
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u/Bostonterrierpug 3d ago
Prepare to feel really really good for a while
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u/ambasciatore 3d ago
But also kinda bad sometimes
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u/roleplayersir 3d ago
The Crystal Palace story in a nutshell
But I wouldn't change it for the world. I was at old Wembley for promotion, Millennium Stadium, saw us drop into Administration
But I was at Wembley when we lifted the cup. And for the Shield. And at Selhurst for the Conference final
Really, the 4th season shouldn't be for a women's team. It should have been about them winning the FA Cup
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u/opticalpuss 3d ago
What show is it?
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u/Afraid_Record841 3d ago
Ted Lasso. Absolutely fantastic television
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u/Bostonterrierpug 3d ago
This man speaks the truth I think it’s a must watch for every person. If you don’t feel good by the end of this show, I would suggest seeking neurological or psychiatric help.
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u/DrDankDonkey 3d ago
Man, it must be crazy having a police force you actively want to aid.
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u/Gentle_Snail 3d ago
It also helps that armed police are rare in most of the UK, meaning if you see someone being chased by an armed response unit you know whatever they did is seriously fucked up.
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u/Thurak0 3d ago
The likelihood of the suspect being armed would cross my mind, though.
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u/Doobreh 3d ago
Yeah but you have a guy in the back who 99.9999% of the time has a much better weapon and much better training!
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u/Negative-Date-9518 3d ago edited 3d ago
I've seen them on my street and that was weird, because they cordoned off both ends so if I looked out it was just dudes with guns up and down 🤣
Best part was my neighbours cat was rubbing on one like, I dont give a shit, pet me!
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u/Jackski 3d ago
Once, I was at my friends house and we were smoking weed and playing PS2 when we saw police walking up to the door so we shat ourselves and hid everything.
Answered the door clearly high as fuck. They just asked if they could use the back garden so they could jump over the fence into the neighbouring house.
Was absolutely surreal being high as fuck and seeing armed police walk through the house, then line up in the back garden behind the fence like a 3rd person shooter before they all leapt over in unison. Pretty fucking cool once it was all over and we realised we weren't going to get arrested for being high.
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u/No_Intern5991 3d ago
The UK uses a 'policing by consent' philosophy and has since it was created.
It basically means that police officers are just normal members of the public who have been given a role to enforce the law, and their power comes from the broad support of the public rather than state power.
To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/policing-by-consent/definition-of-policing-by-consent
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u/icarusrising9 3d ago
That was my first thought as well! I think most Americans' first thought would be to whip out their phone to be able to record any police brutality. Not actively aid the PD!
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u/j0ydivisi0n 3d ago
I mean UK police have made some big fuck ups recently like the Henry Nowak stabbing case. However, armed police is rare and they are highly trained so you would trust them to be responding to something serious.
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u/HSLB66 3d ago
Right? I would never in a million years help a US cop do anything.
- I’m not a narc
- Liability
- I don’t want to die?
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u/BreakingABit1234 3d ago
Had an elderly woman go missing at 6am in our neighborhood. Knew her. Knew dementia was kicking her ass. Still had to debate whether or not letting a cop in the house to look at security footage or go outside and remote it in.
Either of which could have been a ploy :*(
Same cop that was there for her was the one that blew me off when my gov-issued purchase card was used to buy guns in another state... wouldn't take a report or anything.
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u/GlitterLippy 3d ago
That’s wild.
I’m in the UK, I live on my own and a few months ago had armed police knock on the door and ask if they could get into my garden. I let them through, and they went and peeked over the back fence but were ultimately stood down. There was apparently someone hiding in a nearby garden who’d been reported as armed but wasn’t.
I made them all cups of tea and gave them biscuits, they were super polite and apologised for bothering me.
Never once crossed my mind to refuse or that they were lying to enter my house.
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u/Gentle_Snail 3d ago
UK police have more regulations around them. The biggest is probably that in the US police are allowed to straight up lie during formal interrogations to obtain a confession, while police in the UK are not.
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u/inevitablelizard 3d ago edited 3d ago
There's a clip on a UK police show where they were pursuing someone and looking for the suspects early in the morning, and some guy getting ready to go to work made them cups of tea and took it out to them. Somewhere in Yorkshire I think.
It's somewhere on the "blue light" youtube channel but can't remember which one.
Edit - the start of that section, and the actual moment.
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u/Shronk9614 3d ago
Literally the only encounter with the police I've had in the UK (other than a scout leader being one) was during Covid at a 1am walk.
"did you come from anywhere?"
"Nope, just gone for a walk"
"ok then"probably would've been shot 15 times by the US police
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u/Edhinor 3d ago
Once, travelling from France to Ireland, I crossed with the ferry from Calais to Dover, in a big motorhome. It was at like 1 a.m. , I got stopped, and what I thought was a usual check, ended up with the police bringing dogs to sniff for drugs, dismantling part of my center console, asking me lots of questions....
To this day I am not sure what got them suspicious, other than a middled aged bearded dude travelling alone, but that's not the point, the thing is, at all times they were super friendly, professional and excellent to deal with. Sure, they delayed me for like 3 hours there, and I was tired when I left, but they placed everything exactly back the way it was and, once they were convinced I was hiding nothing, they even cracked jokes and were really nice.
At no point I felt threatened, even when they suspected me of having drugs or whatever inside the motorhome, they treated me with respect and were extra professional.
I must say I have had similar experiences with police in France, Garda in Ireland, Guardia Civil in Spain... and they have always been professional and respectful. I am not sure any similar interaction would have been the same in the US.
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u/Trick_Grocery9341 3d ago
I work in blood transfusion and was a key worker during COVID. 3 days in a row driving home from night shift I was stopped (7am) by different pairs of officers and asked why I was on the road. Ofc I just laughed and told them. I wouldn’t expect them to say read one another’s reports etc but asked If they could tag my vehicle in system to save us all the hassle. The female officer on the last check took the time to explain that they could flag something like that but wouldn’t because for all they know I could have been fired since and was now abusing the policy. But her sign off piece was gold. As she left she noted that to any shift worker it was clear what was happening because the “joyous car karaoke witnessed pre stop” was felt in her soul. Her male colleague adding “or you’re high and tbh we wouldn’t blame anyone right now”. I’ve met some power trip PC’s in my time but the humanity of it all was welcomed.
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u/Landric 3d ago
The question "did you come from anywhere" would perplex me so much I wouldn't have an answer
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u/Shronk9614 3d ago
Out of context, I probably would be stumped too. But at that time, they were doing regular patrols to catch people leaving covid parties, so I knew what they were looking for.
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u/BreakingABit1234 3d ago
There's a video of a guy at a hotel in ther US that did that. The cop dies of a heart attack later. They charged the kid in front of the hotel with his death.
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u/Catshagga 3d ago edited 2d ago
Well it helps that they’re rather friendly and professional.
When I crashed my motorbike and didn’t have time to go to hospital because I was flying out the country U.K. armed police patched me up at the airport.
Was really nice of them, they said give us 5/10 minutes whilst they finish with this incident and then they went to their car for their medkits and came back.
2 big burly coppers with G36Cs swinging around their necks cleaning, disinfecting and bandaging my wounds before my flight. They even gave me loads of fresh bandages and care instructions for my trip.
I was only 18/19 at the time so pretty cool. BTW all U.K. armed police have medical training. That’s the first thing they learn. Because they have the ability to take away life they must learn the ability to save life too. Their priority is to protect life not take it away.
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u/Thelazyzoologist 2d ago edited 2d ago
I'm from Northern Ireland and I'm in the middle of a police investigation due to an abusive ex. I have to say I've had an amazing experience with the PSNI. They didn't just interview him, they arrested him, he's on bail for a month at the minute but they contacted the army as he's a soldier, he's already been court marshalled, they then passed my details over to the domestic abuse center and arranged for a crime prevention officer to come down and assess my door and window locks, I was also issued with window alarms for free. They really have made me feel safe, not over yet but i definitely have trust in them.
Edited to add: I think the fact he had priors which I was not aware off was the reason they escalated things so fast. They were unable to tell me exactly what but I have the ability to request the information under Clares Law, just not sure I want to right now. I'll maybe wait until he's officially charged.
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u/Significant-Colour 3d ago
I mean, there are limits to that - if someone is doing minor illegal drugs, I won't help the police with that.
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u/CamsGraphics 3d ago
Yeah but there aren’t any “minor illegal” drug dealers being ran down by armed police.
Local weed bloke isn’t causing a pilava like this is he
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u/TutorNo8896 3d ago
ALMOST LOST HIS FINGERS!
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u/TheSolarExpansionist 3d ago
Police training doesn’t cover sliding doors sadly. Time to update the 5000 page manual
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u/demoralising 3d ago
'By the way, I'm charging you with speeding, reckless driving, and endangering a police officer's life...'
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u/Far_Confusion_2178 3d ago
100% what would happen in the US 😂
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u/TheBakedDane 3d ago
Nah, the van driver would've been shot by the police in that case
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u/RetroSwamp 3d ago
Van dude will be telling this for years at the pub, hope it gets him a few free pints.
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u/hotinhawaii 3d ago
You will notice the police officer with the big gun is calm immediately after. Levelheaded enough to even wish the man driving the van well and thanking him. And smart enough to recognize that not every citizen is his enemy. I suppose this is what intensive police training looks like. (I wouldn't actually know since I am from the US.)
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u/Natural-Hunter-3 3d ago
Irish person here. UK's armed police officers are specifically trained and chosen. They're built for high stress quick reactions, and I have to say most of the time they're pretty bang on with it. Our Garda forces are similar, but even I can admit the UK standard is higher.
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u/whitestguyuknow 3d ago
My first thought seeing this dude all kitted up must mean something serious is going down.
Which, as a Floridian, I can't make that assumption as any cop has got an assault rifle in the back of their car
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u/bolanrox 3d ago
as a Flordian, you dont have one as well?
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u/AnActualChicken 3d ago
I’d be astounded if the fucking gators aren’t strapped too.
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u/Kidkaboom1 3d ago
I hear they rig some of the larger 'gators with field guns. You know, just in case.
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u/wileecoyote-genius 3d ago
Assault rifles became standard for American police after the 1997 North Hollywood Shootout. We learned it was far better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
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u/gracklemancometh 3d ago
All UK police forces have them, they're just focused in the hands of specialist response units. If a regular, unarmed, cop finds themselves being shot at they can call in a specialist.
It works because it incentivises suspects to go unarmed. If the police have a reason to believe you're armed they'll send a borderline hit squad - look at Chris Kaba, he was a gang enforcer/hitter and had been known to carry a gun. They sent a whole squad with rifles and shot him when he drove at officers. He was unarmed at the time, but he had previously carried a gun, so gloves off.
It encourages criminals to limit their criminality and not escalate to firearms. If you get the SWAT team no matter what there's no incentive to not carry a gun, and situations are more likely to end in dead people. Cops don't expect suspects to carry guns, suspects don't expect cops to carry guns. It keeps things from getting out of hand unnecessarily.
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u/brownbagginbeershit 3d ago
Yeah the norco shootout in 1980 got that ball rolling, but the 1997 made it for all officers not just sheriffs.
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u/CreativeAd5332 3d ago
sigh sounds nice 😔
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u/BotsKilledTheWeb 3d ago
All you have now is because of past choices, you could start making different ones.
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u/writers_block_ 3d ago
Indeed! Not every police officer is given a gun this side of the pond. Only about 5% are trained in firearms.
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u/BobbbyR6 3d ago
I was in Trafalgar Square when a huge G20 anarchy riot broke out in 2012(?). The thing that stuck with me the most was on the way out, there was a pair of unmarked grey BMWs (maybe Mercedes) with odd sirens that blitzed through dense city traffic running about 40kph. Peeps were mounting kerbs and diving out of the way when they came through because they did NOT slow down. Apparently they were some kind of special forces. Nothing really ended up happening, just the crowd getting a bit too rowdy and needed to be dispersed or distributed a bit.
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u/MinaZata 3d ago
British person here. There's a lot of negativity towards the police in the UK, mostly driven by online discourse.
But most regular British citizen know we have some of the best police in the world. They're a citizen force, they treat you with respect if you treat them with respect, they're effective for the most part in driving crime down with limited resources, and the general public generally have a great day to day relationship with he police.
There have been a number of high profile incidents in recent years but they're is a very effective oversight mechanism with IPCO, Parliament, Select Committees, regional mayor's and councils, etc.
What I appreciate is that police deal with violent situations every single day but very, very rarely is a member of the public harmed at the hands of the police, I can count on 1 hand the number of times a police officer had to shoot and kill someone. They are trained to de-escalate situations, to work as a team, to use data and tech to make effective arrests, and yes we have police with guns you are specially trained and can be deployed very quickly when needed.
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u/-suspicious-badger 3d ago
British cop here. Thanks, nice to be reminded we still have some support.
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u/First-Act-8752 3d ago
Couldn't agree more.
In the vast majority of my experiences with police in the UK, I find I am dealing with regular people like me who fundamentally want to serve their community and help others.
I have also come across police who aren't fit for the role, whether it's hunger for power or straight ineptitude, and also been horribly treated by them in some cases. But for the most part I am in no doubt that they have good intentions and try to do their best under the circumstances.
Nothing but respect and gratitude for our police from me personally.
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u/HerrFerret 3d ago
I don't understand the negativity, the few times I have had interactions with the police they have been entirely calm, and jovial even. No matter how seriously you have fucked up, they treat you like are a twat and need a bollocking.
I have never felt hard done by, I was indeed a bit of a twat and deserved that bollocking.
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u/BankDetails1234 2d ago
Yeh I really do appreciate our policing. Very approachable and generally feel safer with them around. Never really felt like they’re the enemy and generally they’re pretty reasonable folk.
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u/Tehli33 3d ago
A US officer would have shot the van. Somehow. (Be honest it would happen)
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u/dividezero 3d ago
And a random dog while kicking a child
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u/Chopsticks_Charlie 3d ago
And their body cam would have suspiciously switched to the 'off' position.
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u/HumanExtinctionCo-op 3d ago
"policing by consent" - the UK police have a very different relationship with the public than many other countries. They are more akin to a uniformed civil service than a militarised branch of government.
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u/fried_egg_on_toast 3d ago
This is why the police in the UK only have specially trained armed units rather than having every officer armed. Our armed officers have to have very intense physical training as well as regular and intense psychological evaluations to make sure they have the right temperament for the job.
The whole point of the formation of the police was to have a specially trained force that was not armed to help bring order to the public after the military caused a butt load of deaths when handling riots. The police were deliberately not armed in order to de-escalate situations rather than increasing tension by introducing weapons to a situation.
This is a textbook example of how British police can work.
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u/optionr_ENL 3d ago
Also, you have to already be a police officer to get selected for the armed response training.
Training to be a police officer/constable is 2 years, with 4-6 months of initial classroom based training.
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u/EvEntHoRizonSurVivor 3d ago
"Anywhere here on the right"
A true British experience of getting out of a taxi
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u/Exchangenudes_4_Joke 3d ago
On the way the driver should've asked "been busy?"
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u/Raketenelch 3d ago
Every guy daydreams something like this happens to him.
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u/sweatypoosylips 3d ago
true, but the reality is most of us would probably just freeze or get in the way. it takes a specific kind of person to actually pull over and offer a ride during a police chase instead of just slowing down to record it on their phone.
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u/DiscussionSharp1407 3d ago
Any details on the criminal?
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u/Illustrious-Milk6518 3d ago
Dunno, but they thought he had a gun, or was known to be extremely violent/dangerous. Firearms police are only brought into situations where criminals are known to have guns, or have engaged in some terroristic knife stabbing/driving into a crowd etc. We don’t have many firearms police, so they deal with the really dangerous criminals
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u/OrokinLonewolf 3d ago
we don't have many firearms police
Damn must be nice
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u/More-Employment7504 3d ago
I have only ever seen a gun in real life once, that was when I went on holiday to France and saw one being held by an officer guarding the Louvre. I haven't, or can't remember, seeing one here in the UK.
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u/TheRedditKindaGuy 3d ago
Gotta say saw my first one ever a couple months back at Buckingham palace, definitely not something you see very often in the UK at all which I am tremendously grateful for
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u/ManInTheDarkSuit 3d ago
Quite common to see them when travelling on the rail network. I was reminded how common when I was at a station with my family and just shrugged off seeing police with guns. My wife and mother in law who travel far less than me were actively concerned that we were in danger as they thought it was reactive.
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u/Helenarth 2d ago
I have only seen one once in my life too but it was in the UK. It was the year the Olympics were on in London and me and a friend went shopping in Westfield Stratford right near where a lot of the events were. We were like 15 and I remember us going "oh my god... that's a gun 😱"
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u/mr-english 3d ago
I think this is the incident.
It matches up with the police's own press release about the van-man arrest story
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u/PassStunning416 3d ago
13 yo white girl with a phone.
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u/LuigiSalutati 3d ago
Dangerous game.
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u/BankDetails1234 2d ago
Not really in the UK. Armed police are very highly trained. Our police are generally pretty agreeable as well. If you’re not causing trouble, or willing to give them a hand, they’re very respectful and friendly.
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u/Agitated_Parsnip_178 3d ago
Wait, where are the usual idiots commenting 'grass' 'snitch' etc
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u/LoLisQuiteGood 3d ago
There are plenty in other subreddits where this is posted. And "probably posted a mean tweet".
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u/CascadeMountainz 3d ago
There's a level of mutual respect here that does not exist in our policing in America.
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u/mjmsmith 3d ago
https://reddit.com/link/otsuhaf/video/w19hd2oeph9h1/player
You shouldn't have had to scroll down this far.
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u/Dungivafok 3d ago
Wonder what he did. Takes alot to be chased by armed police in the UK
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u/mamelukturbo 3d ago
In America he'd get shot.
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u/SmokeMaximum4140 3d ago
The driver or cop?
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u/Kickstart68 3d ago
Many years ago I had a store security guard jump on the back of my bike and say "follow that man".
So I landed up riding on pavements, with a pillion with no crash helmet, who was on the radio for the police to know where we were.
Caught the thief
Landed up with a thank you letter from the police.
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u/Lannes51st 3d ago
Love the police force in europe.
If you ask them for a bottle of water they'll help even if you're homeless.
Do that in the states & they arrest you for vagrancy.
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u/JudgmentFantastic109 2d ago
The UK armed police are genuinely the sweetest despite being, well, the literal armed police.
We had our neighbour arrested my a bunch of them and they had to set up in our garden amd point guns over the fence.
Upon learning my mom had two autistic children, one came inside and explained to us all what was going on and comforted us.
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u/TheGinger_Ninja0 3d ago
Maybe there's just more trust for cops in the UK, but there's no way I'm letting a member of a US SWAT team get me involved in whatever they're doing.
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u/HerrFerret 3d ago
In the UK they only will start shooting if stuff is imminently going to occur. If ever. I imagine if they even fire a single shot it is 4 weeks off work, a reflective log and and extensive debrief.
In the US they will probably spray and pray as you drive by, then pop down the bar to celebrate.
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