Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
police all day on the same day?

And no one asked to see in my rucksack !

Grumpy Old Man wrote:


> Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
> police all day on the same day?


You've never been outside UK then ?

--
Nick

On 28 Jul 2005 13:01:29 -0700, "Grumpy Old Man"
 wrote:


>Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
>police all day on the same day?
>
>And no one asked to see in my rucksack !


Your suntan obviously isn't good enough.
                                                             _______
 +---------------------------------------------------+      |\\   //|
 | Charles Ellson: charles@e11son.demon.co.uk        |      | \\ // |
 +---------------------------------------------------+      |  > <  |
                                                            | // \\ |
                                              Alba gu brath |//___\\|

"Grumpy Old Man"  wrote in message
news:1122580889.089459.163180@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
> police all day on the same day?
>
> And no one asked to see in my rucksack !
>


Police were seen on Gloucester, Stroud and Lydney stations in
Gloucestershire all day. I dont know if they were BTP or local plod nor do i
know if they were armed. Why on earth they would be at Lydney is beyond me
as its only a small place served bt Arriva trains wales.

Its nice to know they are doing this, but its a shame this has come about
becuse of what happened in London.

>
> Police were seen on Gloucester, Stroud and Lydney stations in
> Gloucestershire all day. I dont know if they were BTP or local plod nor do
i
> know if they were armed. Why on earth they would be at Lydney is beyond me
> as its only a small place served bt Arriva trains wales.
>


Northumbria and Durham forces had armed police on Newcastle and Darlington
and un-armed police were out on the smaller shacks in the North East as well
today. Cramlington was deemed important enough to have a van with four plods
inside.


-- 
http://europeanrailways.fotopic.net/
Any views or opinions expressed and presented are not those of the author
and do not represent those of his employers, they belong to the voices in
his head.

On 28 Jul 2005 13:01:29 -0700, "Grumpy Old Man"
 wrote:


>Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
>police all day on the same day?
>
>And no one asked to see in my rucksack !


Probably something to do with it being a Thursday.

Oh, half-day closing then?

> Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
> police all day on the same day?


I couldn't beleive it, Waterloo, Basingstoke, Winchester... more police than 
passengers. But when I went to get my flight to Edinburgh from Southampton 
Airport.. not a policeman in sight...

On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 21:25:25, "Pete_uk" 
wrote:

>
>Police were seen on Gloucester, Stroud and Lydney stations in
>Gloucestershire all day. I dont know if they were BTP or local plod nor do i
>know if they were armed. Why on earth they would be at Lydney is beyond me
>as its only a small place served bt Arriva trains wales.


Probably investigating a report of an electro-diesel spotted on the
Dean Forest Railway.  ;-)

Paul Harley

-- 
Remove "eeek" to contact me!

Saw some footage from paddington, over a dozen of them. They obviously
saw a pattern - bombings happen on Thursday. They didn't spot the
pattern that it's the thursday I don't work (i.e. last thursday, next
thursday, 3 weeks time)

On 28 Jul 2005 13:01:29 -0700, "Grumpy Old Man"
 wrote:


>Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
>police all day on the same day?


I've seen a mixture of armed and un-armed Wiltshire police at Swindon
many times over the past few weeks. The BTP has also had a stronger
than normal presence at Reading, but not more so today than any other
in the last few weeks.

The FGW guard today was asking passengers not to leave luggage
unattended anywhere on the trains - no mention how this was meant to
work with the luggage racks though.

Duncan

>Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
>police all day on the same day?
>
>And no one asked to see in my rucksack



They weren't after you.  They were going to shoot anyone without a
valid ticket.

On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 21:25:25 +0100, "Pete_uk"
 wrote:


>
>"Grumpy Old Man"  wrote in message
>news:1122580889.089459.163180@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>> Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
>> police all day on the same day?
>>
>> And no one asked to see in my rucksack !
>>
>
>Police were seen on Gloucester, Stroud and Lydney stations in
>Gloucestershire all day. I dont know if they were BTP or local plod nor do i
>know if they were armed. Why on earth they would be at Lydney is beyond me
>as its only a small place served bt Arriva trains wales.
>
>Its nice to know they are doing this, but its a shame this has come about
>becuse of what happened in London.


Beats me why we can't have this number of police visible on our
streets all the time, albeit without guns. What do they do all day
when we don't see them? Form-filling, I expect. If Tony's Targets can
go out the window when an emergency happens, why not all the time?

MM

Thomas wrote:

> > Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
> > police all day on the same day?
>
> I couldn't beleive it, Waterloo, Basingstoke, Winchester... more police than
> passengers. But when I went to get my flight to Edinburgh from Southampton
> Airport.. not a policeman in sight..


Wifes Parents flew from Southampton to Glasgow yesterday, I saw about 5
Police officers there just when I was dropping them off.

"MM"  wrote in message
news:5fmje1ph7i7366fecp8g4tvclbjngqoubk@4ax.com...


>
> Beats me why we can't have this number of police visible on our
> streets all the time, albeit without guns. What do they do all day
> when we don't see them? Form-filling, I expect. If Tony's Targets can
> go out the window when an emergency happens, why not all the time?
>
> MM


That is dam right.

The Police at Gloucester, Cheltenham, Ashchurch and Lydney were from
gloucestershire Constabulary. After talking to one of the officers
there he stated that there weren't enough railyway children (BTP) to go
around.

> Probably investigating a report of an electro-diesel spotted on the
> Dean Forest Railway.  ;-)


Or maybe they saw those old 2 South West Trains' Mk1s and thought they
were in south London ;-)

> > I couldn't beleive it, Waterloo, Basingstoke, Winchester... more police than
> > passengers. But when I went to get my flight to Edinburgh from Southampton
> > Airport.. not a policeman in sight.

> Saw some footage from paddington, over a dozen of them. They obviously
> saw a pattern - bombings happen on Thursday. They didn't spot the
> pattern that it's the thursday I don't work (i.e. last thursday, next
> thursday, 3 weeks time).


You'll find that a lot (if not most) of the people at Paddington &
Waterloo were BTP Police Community Support Officers who carry handcuffs.

Grumpy Old Man wrote:

> Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
> police all day on the same day?
>
> And no one asked to see in my rucksack !


My local rag is trying to make out that armed police have been swarming
at Eastbourne station, Hampden Park, Pevensey & Westham and Polegate.

Well Eastbourne I don't know, but I use Pevensey & Westham a lot and I
have never seen a police officer there in the last two or so weeks.

They also tried to make out that Eastbourne was under threat...

wreaks of bull poop.

--
Nathan Whitington <><

> Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
> police all day on the same day?
>
> And no one asked to see in my rucksack !
>


I was at work on the day of the second attack . The first i knew of anything
out of the ordinary , i was on the platform at two armed policeman turned up
out of the blue looking exceedingly menacing .

My first thought was "That's a bit OTT for a fair evader"  ;-)

james m

> Thomas wrote:
>> > Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
>> > police all day on the same day?
>>
>> I couldn't beleive it, Waterloo, Basingstoke, Winchester... more police 
>> than
>> passengers. But when I went to get my flight to Edinburgh from 
>> Southampton
>> Airport.. not a policeman in sight..
>
> Wifes Parents flew from Southampton to Glasgow yesterday, I saw about 5
> Police officers there just when I was dropping them off.


What time was that? I was there at 4pm and I didn't see a single copper.

On Thursday morning there were 7 Police at Whitton train station (close
to Twickenham), 3 at the entrance and 2 on each platform.

On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 13:10:48 +0100, "james matterface"
 wrote:


>> Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
>> police all day on the same day?
>>
>> And no one asked to see in my rucksack !
>>
>
>I was at work on the day of the second attack . The first i knew of anything
>out of the ordinary , i was on the platform at two armed policeman turned up
>out of the blue looking exceedingly menacing .
>
>My first thought was "That's a bit OTT for a fair evader"  ;-)
>
>james m

Evading fares is  'fair'   ? since when?

"Grumpy Old Man"  wrote in message
news:1122580889.089459.163180@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
> police all day on the same day?
>
> And no one asked to see in my rucksack !
>


They weren't armed but I saw some police at Waterloo (London!) with
Heddlu/Police on the backs of their hi-vis jackets, presumably from a Welsh
force.
Are the Met running out of officers to cover during the latest alerts?

Nick

"Nick Pedley"  wrote

>
> They weren't armed but I saw some police at Waterloo (London!) with
> Heddlu/Police on the backs of their hi-vis jackets, presumably from a
Welsh
> force.
> Are the Met running out of officers to cover during the latest alerts?
>

Either that, or they've put so many officers out who normally do desk jobs
that they've run out of hi-vis jackets, and had to cadge some off a Welsh
force. ;-)

Peter

Nick Pedley  wrote:

> They weren't armed but I saw some police at Waterloo (London!) with
> Heddlu/Police on the backs of their hi-vis jackets, presumably from a Welsh
> force.
> Are the Met running out of officers to cover during the latest alerts?


I imagine they borrow officers from other forces as required.  When I was in
Scotland for the MakePovertyHistory march, there were plenty of police vans
in Scotland from strange places (Devon/Cornwall, Dyfed/Powys).  I think the
policing operation now is of a similar scale to that around the G8 protests
(Radio 4 said 1000 officers were working on the investigation the other day)

Theo

> Beats me why we can't have this number of police
> visible on our streets all the time, albeit without guns.
> What do they do all day when we don't see them?
> Form-filling, I expect. If Tony's Targets can  go out
> the window when an emergency happens, why not
> all the time?


You can put a large number of police on the streets for a short period
of time by cancelling annual leave and by calling people in on their
days off. Unfortunately if you do this too often then people start to
fall asleep at work, which sort of defeats the point of having those
people looking out for potential terrorists. It is also horrendously
expensive because a lot of people will be on overtime (which isn't a
problem if you don't mind your taxes going up).

On other days, some of the police officers that you saw on stations on
Thursdays could be:

   * appearing at court
   * preparing cases for court (the "form-filling" you refer to,
     which if not done means no one ever gets prosecuted)
   * working on other operations (anti-robbery and so on)
   * working as a detective, 'solving crime'

Just because you can't see them working doesn't mean they aren't doing
something worthwhile. Very few crimes would be solved or offenders
brought to court if every officer was on high visibility patrol at the
local railway station or high street.


Matt Ashby

> They weren't armed but I saw some police at Waterloo
> (London!) with Heddlu/Police on the backs of their hi-vis
> jackets, presumably from a Welsh force.
> Are the Met running out of officers to cover during the
> latest alerts?


More likely to be either BTP officers normally assigned to stations in
Wales but sent to London to provide extra high visibility patrolling
(there's a lot of BTP in London at the moment from all over the
country) or officers from a Welsh force doing train patrols (although
that would be more likely if they were at Paddington).


Matt Ashby

On 30 Jul 2005 03:44:39 -0700, "Matt Ashby" 
wrote:


>> Beats me why we can't have this number of police
>> visible on our streets all the time, albeit without guns.
>> What do they do all day when we don't see them?
>> Form-filling, I expect. If Tony's Targets can  go out
>> the window when an emergency happens, why not
>> all the time?
>
>You can put a large number of police on the streets for a short period
>of time by cancelling annual leave and by calling people in on their
>days off. Unfortunately if you do this too often then people start to
>fall asleep at work, which sort of defeats the point of having those
>people looking out for potential terrorists. It is also horrendously
>expensive because a lot of people will be on overtime (which isn't a
>problem if you don't mind your taxes going up).
>
>On other days, some of the police officers that you saw on stations on
>Thursdays could be:
>
>   * appearing at court
>   * preparing cases for court (the "form-filling" you refer to,
>     which if not done means no one ever gets prosecuted)
>   * working on other operations (anti-robbery and so on)
>   * working as a detective, 'solving crime'
>
>Just because you can't see them working doesn't mean they aren't doing
>something worthwhile. Very few crimes would be solved or offenders
>brought to court if every officer was on high visibility patrol at the
>local railway station or high street.


Maybe the high visibility patrols would drastically reduce the amount
of crimes carried out in the first place, thus minimising the need for
officers to appear in court, prepare cases for court, or working on
other operations, which could be practically eliminated.

When I was a lad, local bobbies solved a lot of petty crime by being
tough and having a grapevine. Crimes were nipped in the bud that
nowadays would involve the whole police and probation service, social
services, and gobs of money being thrown hither and thither - with the
result that many a young criminal is so distanced from his actual
crime by the time the case gets to trial that he can barely remember
what he did wrong.

Put it this way, if every *street* had its old-fashioned bobby,
anti-social behaviour would disappear.

How much is anti-social behaviour costing the country?

MM

On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 09:59:00 +0100, "Nick Pedley"
 wrote:


>
>"Grumpy Old Man"  wrote in message
>news:1122580889.089459.163180@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>> Is this the first time so many stations have had  a presence of armed
>> police all day on the same day?
>>
>> And no one asked to see in my rucksack !
>>
>
>They weren't armed but I saw some police at Waterloo (London!) with
>Heddlu/Police on the backs of their hi-vis jackets, presumably from a Welsh
>force.
>

Or Welsh-based BTP ?

<snip>
-- 
                                                             _______
 +---------------------------------------------------+      |\\   //|
 | Charles Ellson: charles@e11son.demon.co.uk        |      | \\ // |
 +---------------------------------------------------+      |  > <  |
                                                            | // \\ |
                                              Alba gu brath |//___\\|

Duncan wrote:


> The FGW guard today was asking passengers not to leave luggage
> unattended anywhere on the trains - no mention how this was meant to
> work with the luggage racks though.


York brought to chaos this evening by a suspect unattended package ...
has it escaped anyone's notice that in all the recent bombings, the
suspect packages have been noticeably attended?

-- 
                          Stevie D
    \\\\\       /////     Bringing dating agencies to the
   \\\\\\\__X__///////    common hedgehog since 2001 - "HedgeHugs"
___\\\\\\\'/ \'///////_____________________________________________

Duncan wrote:


> The FGW guard today was asking passengers not to leave luggage
> unattended anywhere on the trains - no mention how this was meant to
> work with the luggage racks though.


On a Virgin train to London last week, luggage racks at the ends of 
carriages were pretty much out of use unless you had the seats 
immediately next to them. Even then, the train manager asked if they 
were your bags. Good job the train wasn't full so people could put bags 
on seats nearby.

-- 
Jonathan Stott
Canterbury Weather: http://www.canterburyweather.co.uk/
Reverse my e-mail address to reply by e-mail

Stevie D  wrote:


>Duncan wrote:
>
>> The FGW guard today was asking passengers not to leave luggage
>> unattended anywhere on the trains - no mention how this was meant to
>> work with the luggage racks though.
>
>York brought to chaos this evening by a suspect unattended package ...
>has it escaped anyone's notice that in all the recent bombings, the
>suspect packages have been noticeably attended?



They were unattended in Madrid.  

We should not expect future attacks in the UK to be identical to those
previous.

We should not expect anything. We did not expect the atacks and you saw the 
result.
Anyway, at peak time the Cercanas trains are as crowded as the London 
undergrounds, up to 270 people per coach. If there be a way of preventing a 
bag bomb it is only checking everybody at the access.
We are doing it now, for a time, only at the left luggage, but it is only 
partial (a scanner and 'random' checking) at the boarding lounge.
Big problems need not big solutions, just sensible ones. Instead, huge 
problems need courage. But don't ask me about sizes because you'll get an 
answer you won't like.

From Atocha, greetings.

Stevie D wrote:

> York brought to chaos this evening by a suspect unattended package ...


And there was eejit last night who left a note on a seat on a Bradford 
Forster Square train saying there was a bomb in the toilet:

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1103153

"Bradford's Forster Square station was also evacuated just after 4pm 
when a member of staff on the 16.12 Bradford-Leeds train found a note on 
his seat saying there was a bomb in the toilet.  A controlled explosion 
was carried out at 7.15pm and the station was opened at around 9pm."

As I'm presuming there wasn't a bomb, I wonder what it was that they 
exploded.