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Restraining violent, drugged abusive members if the public

(133 Posts)
Sparkling Tue 14-Jul-20 07:24:16

Any ideas how you can safely arrest a drugged up and violent member of the public one of whom could have a knife or weapon. This is part of police life, often the violent person can be physically much larger than the arresting officer. It would be enlightening to the general public as well"

MaizieD Tue 14-Jul-20 07:27:55

How about kneeling on their neck until they're dead?

What exactly is the point of this thread?

Riverwalk Tue 14-Jul-20 07:30:50

Why do you need ideas, are you planning on having a go?

I hear tasers are very effective.

vegansrock Tue 14-Jul-20 07:32:55

They are trained in safe restraint methods. They don’t need ideas from armchair police.

Nanna58 Tue 14-Jul-20 07:32:55

I’m not sure about the point of this thread, but as the mother of a police officer( DD ) this is something I do worry about so I don’t like the sarcastic answer you gave either Maisie D !

dinks13 Tue 14-Jul-20 07:36:49

Totally agree with you nanna58.

MawB Tue 14-Jul-20 07:41:33

I wonder if this can be treated as anything more than a rhetorical question? Without training in unarmed combat/restraint/ defensive action I very much doubt any of us is in a position to tell anybody anything. (Not that it will stop anybody hmm )

lovebeigecardigans1955 Tue 14-Jul-20 07:45:30

In another life I worked in a psychiatric hospital. During the odd ruckus we always tried to talk them down first. If that didn't work we were taught to restrain them by holding firmly onto their limbs - arms or legs, never the neck.
If all else failed the charge nurse would get a needle prepared with a tranquiliser (something they were already on) and they'd get a quick jab in the backside.
It was another world.

Whitewavemark2 Tue 14-Jul-20 07:46:22

sparkling odd sort of question.

Have you not understood previously that this is what the police do?

Day in and day out.

A large part of their physical training is about just this scenario and they are given plenty of equipment to defend themselves as well as the general public. In the final analyses of course they are armed, but thankfully very rarely.

My neighbour also helps the police in these sort of situations. He is an emergency mental health nurse and these poor folk are often violent.

Hope you are more enlightened now. Police don’t just potter about in their cars you know or Sit at desks solving murders?

Galaxy Tue 14-Jul-20 07:49:05

I have been trained in 3 types of restraint over the years, I also qualified in the teaching of restraint ( I am using the word restraint but that's not what it was called). I have seen restraint go wrong and I have also seen restraint misused. Do you want to know if kneeling on someone's neck is ever a legitimate use of control?

MissAdventure Tue 14-Jul-20 07:55:37

There are plenty of restraint techniques that are, no doubt, taught, risk assessed, and have policies and procedures in place, to ensure they're used appropriately.

I would assume that would include instruction to use the least restrictive methods, always.

25Avalon Tue 14-Jul-20 08:01:50

The general public are advised not to have a go in these situations but to call the police instead who as WW2 says spend hours training and have the equipment to deal with such scenarios. This is their job and many are heroic in carrying it out. If they use excess force there are accountable.

MaisieD it is not proven that kneeling on the neck is an actual cause of death. If you are high on drugs and have hypertension then these are the major factors which show up on the pm. Not being able to breathe is also symptomatic of heart problems. The courts have not yet decided. This method of restraint is used in many countries and clearly needs looking at.

MaizieD Tue 14-Jul-20 08:06:58

Oh,of course not, Avalon.

Would you like to verify that with a practical experiment. With you being the person being knelt on, of course?

Anniebach Tue 14-Jul-20 08:15:13

When did police in the U.K. start kneeling on the neck ?

P.C. Palmer wasn’t armed when he was stabbed to death

25Avalon Tue 14-Jul-20 08:20:21

MaisieD I am not a violent criminal, I don’t take drugs of any description, and as far as I know I don’t suffer from hypertension so I would be no good for such an experiment. Furthermore there is no need when you can just let the coroner do his job.

Galaxy Tue 14-Jul-20 08:21:57

In my experience over 20 + years misuse of restraint indicated fundamental issues with the organisa

Galaxy Tue 14-Jul-20 08:22:23

Sorry! With the organisational culture.

Starblaze Tue 14-Jul-20 08:24:27

I'm not a trained police officer but I expect they have many ways to restrain someone that isn't suffocating them, also the good old handcuffs seem to work quite well

Anniebach Tue 14-Jul-20 08:26:25

Putting on handcuffs when the attacker has a knife ?

Loislovesstewie Tue 14-Jul-20 08:27:07

When my colleague was having his tie used as a noose by a member of the public he found that a knee applied to the testicles did the trick. And he wore clip on ties after that.

Whitewavemark2 Tue 14-Jul-20 08:52:10

Every police death is a death too many, however, the level of police deaths in the UK as a direct result of criminal action is extremely low, for which we must be very thankful.

In 2019 only one police officer was killed on duty. Others may have died e.g. heart attack etc. Only one indirect mortality in 2018.

Compare this to the numbers of people who die as a result of police action and I think you can conclude that the police are very well protected.

Anniebach Tue 14-Jul-20 09:04:56

Only one police officer killed on duty , that’s ok,

Galaxy Tue 14-Jul-20 09:08:31

That's absolutely not what was said.

Anniebach Tue 14-Jul-20 09:42:56

What was said - ‘only one police officer was killed ‘.

Why not ‘one police officer was killed’

Whitewavemark2 Tue 14-Jul-20 09:46:48

Only one police officer against what it could possibly have been in the light of the sort of people they have to deal with.

“Only” in the sense of thank goodness.