Police use 'Stinger' at unofficial 'Shakedown' meet-Southend

[Fire99]

Was looking on the dreaded Facebook over the weekend and saw this video of the Police using a 'stinger' against a biker at the unofficial 'Shakedown' meet at Southend on Sea.

Obviously there are two sides to every story but with recent reports on motorcycle crime in London etc, very much hope there was a good reason for deploying the 'stinger'.

https://www.facebook.com/YourSouthend/videos/18993...

[Fire99]

But a 'Stinger'??

I've been to the 'Shakedown' meeting many many times so I know there are always a few pillocks. You get that with everything but by and large the majority have always had a great day.

But the use of a 'stinger' seems hugely excessive in my eyes.. Maybe it's just me..

[trickywoo]

Massive overreaction from the cop there IMO.

The way he held the traffic after just escalated the situation for no reason.

I know people can be idiots at meets like that but the cop was looking for that IMO the way he was so quick with the stinger.

[Fire99]

As someone pointed out to me, he already had the stinger in his hand, so this wasn't a spontaneous reaction.
It could be crime related, it could be many things but for me, with all the press that has been going on in recent times about Police not wanting to intervene on motorcycle crime, answers need to be given when a 'stinger' is used in these situations..
In my opinion of course.

[obscene]

I'm on the coppers side here. Act like a bellend, get treated like the ones waiting behind the stinger. As mentioned above, he was clearly making sure the kids crossed the road safely.

[Fire99]

obscene said:

I'm on the coppers side here. Act like a bellend, get treated like the ones waiting behind the stinger. As mentioned above, he was clearly making sure the kids crossed the road safely.

Not with a 'stinger' in his hand. I very much doubt you would hold one as routine whilst doing crossing patrol?

[Far Cough]

..............gets intel the bikes are stolen. Stops traffic in an attempt to capture bikes in the traffic jam and has the stinger at the ready in case they break out. They attempt to break out and fail to stop so stinger deployed. Looks like the ones he wants to catch get away and the idiot remaining decides to escalate the situation by going straight for his camera phone phone and intimidation tactics getting in the cops face. Back in the day he would have been put straight on his arse but 1 copper is pretty powerless against all the bikers.

[obscene]

Fire99 said:

Not with a 'stinger' in his hand. I very much doubt you would hold one as routine whilst doing crossing patrol?

As someone has just posted above, stolen bike intel I'm sure. If any of the idiots in the video had acted like rational human beings, they'd have been stopped a couple seconds and then sent on their way.

[trickywoo]

obscene said:

As mentioned above, he was clearly making sure the kids crossed the road safely.

Maybe. Maybe not. Cop could have been there all day stopping traffic for peds / cyclists as soon as they arrived at the crossing looking to provoke a reaction from traffic being frequently stopped and perhaps for longer than necessary.

Do we know if there were other dedicated light controlled crossings near by?

I think cop lost his rag from something previous got his stinger out of the boot and looked for an opportunity.

I'm not saying the bike rider wasn't in the wrong but there is good policing and bad policing and this falls into the bad for me.

[Fire99]

Maybe i'm wrong or looking at this too simply but to me we've had reports of 15,000 motorcycles stolen in London with Police appearing to 'sit on their hands' because for whatever they can't intervene.
Then we have an unoffical bike meet in Southend, with a council with the 'ump and seemingly doing everything short of setting land mines to deter the event , and we have a 'stinger' in use.

Cynical, I know.

[graham22]

I think he was holding traffic with a view to sting either a stolen bike (the GSXR) or, given the way they were riding down the grass, the quads (which again could have been stolen) - you wouldn't have a stinger to hand acting as a lollypop lady.

I think the kids just took advantage of the cars being stopped to cross the road.

Would be interested in what happened further up the road with the stung bike, albeit it didn't look too successful.

[PIGINAWIG]

Chavvy rider gets what he deserves. ttty quads should have had the stinger wrapped through their visors. ttty tracksuit wearing chav videos the policeman....

Excessive my ass. Utter cocks. Good on the police. Zero sympathy for the the chavs.

[mckeann]

Idiot on bike deserved it. By the look of the tts on quads, that whole group obviously weren't playing by the rules. If a cop tells you to stop, and you choose not to, he has to treat you like a criminal.

[Ranger 6]

Fire99 said:

As someone pointed out to me, he already had the stinger in his hand, so this wasn't a spontaneous reaction.

Yup, my guess is that a stinger is not the first thing you pick up when you're going to stop traffic and allow kids on bicycles to cross the road.

Maybe, he's been doing it for a few instances and these di*kheads have been going past on the grass on more than one occasion? Maybe one of these idiots has come close to taking out a child? Mr Policeman has gone back to his car and picked up the stinger with the express intention of stopping them.

I don't think it's an over reaction - my perception is that he's been provoked by lawless tw*ts not stopping. I don't know what gives these idiots the mindset that they can ignore a uniformed policeman. I'm pretty sure he would've started out with the intention to minimise disruption and support the safety of those crossing.

[ashleyman]

If you read the comments on FB, it says that the kids on the bikes were riding like tits all day. Bike meet on the same day in the same place and you can guarantee it would have been carnage. Just look at the quads driving over the grass and round the stinger. They weren't stopping. Combine the 2 and you've got Police trying to get rid of kids and bikers riding around like idiots.

Whatever the reason for stopping traffic the bikes should have stopped.. Bike didn't stop. Got stung. Deserved it. The guys that stopped as told shouldn't have a problem as they did as told.

I don't have a problem with bikes and quads, but if you see a group of bikes and a quad on the road somewhere like Southend you can guarantee they'll be the type to look for trouble.

[Fire99]

I do find it interesting, and I'm trying to see both sides here, but if this was the normal actions over a stolen bike, surely there would be about 20,000 extra 'stinger' deployments in London over the past couple of years?

[TimeForAZafira]

First reaction was the blue biker = total . Playing it back though, it's not clear that he has much time to react to the policeman. Would need to understand what happened beforehand. Why was he holding the traffic, why was it being filmed - obviously something preceded this.

Quad bikers - total twunts.

[Fire99]

ashleyman said:

I don't have a problem with bikes and quads, but if you see a group of bikes and a quad on the road somewhere like Southend you can guarantee they'll be the type to look for trouble.

There is that.. The quad certainly hasn't helped P.R. I think I would be less uncomfortable about the 'stinger' use if the Council hadn't already taken such a strong 'anti' stance on the meeting and if motorcycle crime (London in particular) had been dealt with, with an equally strong hand.

[Fire99]

TimeForAZafira said:

First reaction was the blue biker = total . Playing it back though, it's not clear that he has much time to react to the policeman. Would need to understand what happened beforehand. Why was he holding the traffic, why was it being filmed - obviously something preceded this.

It is a curious one.. Certainly one to spark the "what's going on here?"

[chris4652009]

These bell ends (bikers) are the reason I don't bother with bike meets any more.
I love the hardware but not the types of people these sort of meetings attract