So often a murderer turns out to be someone who had regularly aroused suspicion before. But when should we act on our suspicions and report someone?
This BBC article is the usual hand-wringing bollocks that follows the outcome of a particularly heinous crime. Could we, should we, have identified Mark Bridger before he killed April Jones? The answer to which is, “no”.
There are plenty of oddballs about. I consider my own eccentricity a little off the norm (and quite right, too – who wants to be normal?). To others, I might be thought odd. I have not committed any murders, nor am I likely to. Should a suspicious neighbour report me? For what? Occasionally walking about in a Jacobean shirt? Celebrating my silver wedding wearing a frock coat and Regency waistcoat? Being a bit of a loner? Not being particularly sociable? All of these are traits that make certain people suspicious. None of them is indicative of criminal intent.
And, indeed, in the case of Mark Bridger, until he killed his victim, “a bit odd” was all there was to go on. Okay, sure, if the police had raided his home, they would have discovered his stash of kiddie porn. But, and this is the crux, “a bit odd” is not sufficient evidence of intent, nor is it sufficient evidence to burst down the door and start confiscating computers. Just because sometimes you find something, doesn’t excuse the behaviour because the vast majority of times, you won’t. There are plenty of oddballs about – long may they thrive – but very few turn out to be murderers. And what about those murderers who appeared to be perfectly normal and no one suspected a thing, eh? What about them? Perhaps we should be reporting everyone so that the police can come in and search for incriminating evidence before they commit their crimes.
Pre-crime, anyone? This way lies the Stasi, the Gestapo, the KGB and the gulag.
But on the more everyday level, how many of us have seen something suspicious at a neighbouring house and not done anything?
Society does need people to be aware of their neighbours, says Roy Rudham, chair of the UK Neighbourhood Watch Trust.
“You’ve got to get to know your neighbours and their vehicles and anyone suspicious in the road.” People who say they’ve lived next to someone and don’t know their name are foolish, he says.
“If you’ve got the slightest suspicion tell the police. Let the police prioritise it on the reports coming in.”
Wow! I’m glad I don’t live in Roy Rudham’s neighbourhood. I don’t know much about my neighbours and don’t give a fig what vehicles are seen in the road. I just presume that they are visiting someone who lives nearby; that being the obvious and innocent explanation – indeed, if I even give it that much thought, which I don’t. And, y’know, I don’t know my neighbours’ names. Well, apart from John next door – and even then, I don’t know his surname. It isn’t important. It is not foolish, no matter how much nosey twats like Rudham might claim it is so. It’s called minding my own business. Mr Rudham needs to learn to mind his.
But where do you draw the line between an oddball or eccentric and a dangerous criminal or terrorist? The police do not have an answer.
That’s because there isn’t one. So people should get on with their lives and let others do likewise.
“Perhaps we should be reporting everyone so that the police can come in and search for incriminating evidence before they commit their crimes.”
Oh, they’ve got ways around having to go to such lengths. Ayn Rand outlined what a clever government can do about fifty years ago in Atlas Shrugged:
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“Did you really think we want those laws observed? said Dr. Ferris. We want them to be broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against… We’re after power and we mean it… There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Reardon, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be.much easier to deal with.”
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Unfortunately, that’s the way we’re headed.
:/
MJM
We have a clever government? Whodathunkit? 😈
“”Wow! I’m glad I don’t live in Roy Rudham’s neighbourhood.””
I dunno. It could be a lot of fun winding him up
There’s a very simple counter argument to all those bell-ends in the media currently wearing thier 20/20 retrovision glasses and demanding that more is done to identify and deal with “weirdos” before they do bad things.
And that argument is : Chris Jefferies.
“If you’ve got the slightest suspicion tell the police. Let the police prioritise it on the reports coming in.”
And in my local paper just a week ago someone did just that and a young mother returned home from work to find her front door kicked in, because someone had the idea that she was dealing drugs. She wasn’t and now she has to wait until the door is repaired and her kid is terrified that the door will be kicked in again.
What happened to innocent until proven guilty?
I don’t think Mark Bridger was an odd-ball, as in doing eccentric things. He was a bit of a violent man though. With known incidences including attacking his girlfriends whilst they were pregnant. That alone should have made most people wary of him. But when violence is all around in the local society, he probably didn’t stand out that much.
“So often a murderer turns out to be someone who had regularly aroused suspicion ”
How often ?
And what evidence for this.
It’s self fulfilling. 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing.
of course what the likes of Roy Rudham [and those with his over inflated sense of self importance] forget, is that even when the police have it spelt out for them, in the sort of basic language that even a retard could understand…they still can’t get it right….
Look at the case of Maria Stubbings – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-22603763
That is not a case in isolation.
So the likes of Roy Rudham are only deluding themselves, when they think that Dixon of Dock Green is going to save us from every mis-fit and dodgy character we see walking our streets.
I also read this morning, the BBC article about whether we need a snoopers charter and the sad truth is, cases like Mark Bridger will always stoke that fire…and of course the woolwich murder is stoking those who think they should have right of access to all our communications; as if they do not have enough access already.
The reality is, as we all know, they are merely seeking to treat the symptoms, not the cause….. but oh how I’d like to think Mr Rudham was right….. but he’s not, he’s a knob.
Alas even good ole Stella has a view….
Dame Stella Rimington, former head of MI5, encouraged people who suspect their neighbours to inform the security services.
“The community has the responsibility to act as the eyes and ears, as they did during the war … where there were all these posters up saying the walls have ears and the enemy is everywhere,” she said…..
So it is, we must face up to the fact ….. stupidity is the new normal……
Now where did I put my binoculars and notepad….
You do Mr Rudham a disservice, He is no mere knob, he is a nasty little curtain twitcher – a Stasi informer. Mere knob indeed. He moved on from that years ago, clearly.He is the chair of the UK Stasi, after all.
Yeah, you’re right, stupid is the new normal.
….and if good ole Roy needed anymore proof of his own naive stupidity he should check out one….. PC Kayley Newman….
NEWMAN: COP’S BOYFRIEND WAS FUGITIVE ON THE RUN
HARROW A police officer set up a secret night of passion with her boyfriend while he was wanted for questioning, a court heard. PC Kayley Newman, 25, failed to arrest Dominic Diop after arranging an illicit rendezvous at Hotel Ibis London Docklands in east London, jurors heard. Newman, based at Harrow Police Station in northwest London, allegedly knew ‘full well’ police had been trying to track down her lover since October 25, 2011. She messaged Diop, 23, on Facebook to arrange the ‘clandestine’ tryst, before meeting him on November 13 last year, Southwark Crown Court heard. But Diop was not arrested until November 21, when he was recalled to prison to complete an earlier sentence. ~ [http://courtnewsuk.co.uk]
So it seems the police don’t have time to nab the bad guys, they are too busy sh@gging them….. sh@gging us all it seems….
XX Should a suspicious neighbour report me? For what? Occasionally walking about in a Jacobean shirt? Celebrating my silver wedding wearing a frock coat and Regency waistcoat? Being a bit of a loner? Not being particularly sociable? All of these are traits that make certain people suspicious. None of them is indicative of criminal intent. XX
JA!!!! Add to that, having six, six pounder cannons in the garden, a whole wardrobe full of muskets flintlock pistols, and on average 20 kilos of black powder, and regularly being seen in 1812 Gendarmerie (Police) uniform, carrying a Royal navy boarding sword, whilst buying my “weekend supplies”, on returning from a re-enactment weekend! (The security guards face is a picture in its self!)
Damn! That could get me a ten year “lie down!!”
And that is before they have seen my Lochaber axe, which is used for Wiking re-enactment weekends!
Are we nuts?
I HOPE so, I would hate to think the world saw us as “NORMAL.”
If I ever show signs of becoming normal, shoot me. Please…
While I’m pretty conventional in my adult state, at school I was a bit of a loner who used to wear a big coat. Hardly ground-breaking originality, I know, but I don’t doubt that had I been schooled in the US then I would have been pegged as a potential school shooter. Despite being a very vocal pacifist, now and then.
Until people can actually read minds and thus understand the intentions of people, it is utterly unacceptable that anyone should be singled out for being a bit odd. For every Mark Bridger, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of unconventional but perfectly benign people who wouldn’t hurt anyone, let alone abduct and kill a child