General Chat

Just to point out, Derrick Bird's firearm was legal, and licensed.

The press will nearly always blame the police for late arrival etc etc.
But imagine if Joe Public had shot Mr Bird with an illegal firearm after only 4 deaths what chance did Mr J Public have after? mind even after the 12 shootings he would still have been pointed out by the press for having an ILLEGAL firearm.
I do say illegal because most people with legal firearms could not shoot a person.
As for helicopters and thermal imagining as stated they need to know where to start and even once they have located and can track a car (by sight) they can't exactly shoot the car from the air, only track it. Plus thermal imagining is usually used at night or in dense wooded areas.

I often have no great love for the law but really can't understand how the police can be blamed. The man ran amok over a large area, it must have taken a few minutes at least to put the shooter down as the same person and then try to track him. Other than that it was 1 response unit going to 1 call and another going elsewhere.

I am very interested to know anyones views and how exectly they could of stopped him.

glad none of my lads wanted to be police .my nephews in the police.and thats scarey enough.

Well to be fair all the possible reason behind what happened is pure speculation, but yes I agree, whatever they had done, the police would have been wrong in some people's eyes.

I really do think people expect the police to perform miracles in cases like this, to be able to accurately predict where a suspect might be, to stand in the line of fire, and to be there instantly. Its not possible, but I do believe they did all they possibly could do given the circumstances and the huge area this happened in.

And this is the very reason I detest the gutter press, I have read snippets today in the paper, they seem hell bent on dwelling on his liking for Thai women, so what!


I agree that local bobbies could only just watch and that is what they would have been advised if not instructed to do. Wasn’t there a gap from his first shooting till his last hour of madness ? I cant see in anyway where the police are at fault because if they had of took him down or ran him of the road, some barmy police hating do gooder would be shouting inhumane murder from the highest rooftops. There is only 1 person to blame for all this and that’s Derrick Bird who was selfish in the highest order.


So what if he had a £100,000.00 tax bill should have sorted it years ago and not wait for his poor mother to die.

I dont think it was till a second person has been reported shot in the town centre and been seen,that triggered any alarm..then reported one after the other were coming in.by this time other forces were called in,,,who has a journey to get to Whitehaven,plus may have been dealing with another emergency,

The police were running blind,,events unfolded before theirr eyes and were powerless to act any other way,than they did.,finding the victims along the trail of DB must have been a nightmare for them.....

The whirleybird wasnt a hapeth of use under the circumstances,,,too much Camera Police Action me thinks,,,,you need a target for thermal imaging,,,,,,,,nobody knew where he was,,,,

The copter was air sea rescue I belive.

trust u joyous!! x

me too i,d have been scared stupid.

I'm glad you were in the wrong place Joyous.

TW honest i thought.omg did we pass him and not notice .i was thinking every sinario.except ....we were in the wrong place.[thank god,lol]

Awww bless ya Joyous LOL

when i went wales the other day we went to the cambrian mountains .i thought that was the same place till my bro said .no ya wally its cumbria.

I don't get the point about thermal imagining, I'm afraid. It's a means of picking up a heat source, nothing more. FLIR (forward looking infra-red) can't identify anyone and will only work anyway in sparse woodland where a heat signature on the ground can be seen. So to suggest that it may have been of some use is totally wrong, it was of no use at all in these circumstances.

And Dunblane isn't comparable to this situation, at least not in the sense of the initial actions by officers. There may well be similarities in relation to the grant and renewal of the firearms certificate, however. But we will just have to wait and see about that point.

But there is little to compare Dunblaine with Cumbria Dizzi, other than a man gone mad with a gun, so with all due respect, it's irrelevant.

Dunblaine was....one building
Cumbria was...a whole county.

DUNBLANE

THE TRAGIC DAY THE CHILDREN DIED I WAS IN THE DEPARTURE LOUNGE WAITING TO FLY TO GLASGOW
WE WERE EXCHANING OUR TICKETS WITH THE FAMILIES
WHILE WAITING FOR A SEAT ON ANY OTHER FLIGHT
WE WERE ALL CRYING
INCLUDING THE PRESS

WE WERE THERE SIX HOURS TILL ALL THE FAMIILIES HAD FLIGHTS TO EDINBURGH OR GLASGOW

AS FOR POLICE THISMAN WAS DETERMIED TO KILL ,NO ONE COULD STOP HIM

bad move to arm all police me thinks,we have a special unit for that.i think they did great .in an awfull situation.

Now that is a whole new debate Eldrick. No I don't think there should be 100% armed police force in this country. We have strict enough gun laws, some of the tightest in the world, but to arm our police per se, is only going to encourage more people to arm themselves and have a go at them.

I've only ever seen armed police once, and that was the day after 9/11 in London as I passed through. I don't want to witness live weapons every single day I go shopping.

Only a 'hero' could have stopped him..... isn't that what the press always prefer?

someone who with no thought to their own safety tackles the guy with the shot gun? So much easier to praise the dead hero than those who were doing their job to the best of their ability......

I also think there is little comparison between Cumbria and Dunblaine, for instance, Dunblaine took place in one place, a school, Cumbria, took place in.......well.....Cumbria. Have you any idea how big that is?