Spectator N0 2651 By Fieldfare
Crosswords1 min ago
Is justice blind?
26 Answers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/82 25778.stm
A blind man who complained to police about cars parking on a pavement was arrested when he threatened to let down the vehicles' tyres.
Daniel Duckfield, from Narberth, Pembrokeshire, said he and his guide dog had to walk in the road when paths were blocked by illegally-parked cars.
He has complained about being cautioned and put in a cell after his arrest.
My first reactions on reading the article were sympathy with Mr Duckfield (and curiosity as to how he would let the tyres down since he was blind and the valves are pretty small).
But of course this is vigilante action - and surely it can't be condoned.
Should the fact that he is blind / disabled come into play?
If this was a mother with a pram or a person in a wheelchair, as with Mr Duckfield then there would be a lot of sympathy - but if it was just a 'white able bodied male in his 30s' would you have the same sympathy?
Try reading the article again but put in 'unemployed 18 year old youth' instead of 'a blind man' and see if you have the same degree of sympathy.
A blind man who complained to police about cars parking on a pavement was arrested when he threatened to let down the vehicles' tyres.
Daniel Duckfield, from Narberth, Pembrokeshire, said he and his guide dog had to walk in the road when paths were blocked by illegally-parked cars.
He has complained about being cautioned and put in a cell after his arrest.
My first reactions on reading the article were sympathy with Mr Duckfield (and curiosity as to how he would let the tyres down since he was blind and the valves are pretty small).
But of course this is vigilante action - and surely it can't be condoned.
Should the fact that he is blind / disabled come into play?
If this was a mother with a pram or a person in a wheelchair, as with Mr Duckfield then there would be a lot of sympathy - but if it was just a 'white able bodied male in his 30s' would you have the same sympathy?
Try reading the article again but put in 'unemployed 18 year old youth' instead of 'a blind man' and see if you have the same degree of sympathy.
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In fact, thinking about this more and more, isn't this exactly what should be done?
Do we want the police (who have far better things to do) to go out and ticket vehicles? Surely by allowing citizens to do this kind of thing (ie not damaging but inconveniencing) we can make people take more responsibility.
After all, the reason that most people park inappropriately is because they don't think that they will get caught. If any citizen can let down their tyres and leave them a note, then I reckon that most people will park appropriately.
Do we want the police (who have far better things to do) to go out and ticket vehicles? Surely by allowing citizens to do this kind of thing (ie not damaging but inconveniencing) we can make people take more responsibility.
After all, the reason that most people park inappropriately is because they don't think that they will get caught. If any citizen can let down their tyres and leave them a note, then I reckon that most people will park appropriately.
Mr Duckfield�s threatened action was almost certainly the culmination of a period of frustration where he had been trying to get the police to enforce the law in his favour.
The story is really all about the breakdown of the deal between the citizen and the State, where the State undertakes to enforce the law and in return citizens renounce their right to take the law into their own hands.
As mentioned, his arrest has almost certainly jeopardised Mr Duckfield�s voluntary work, even though he has been neither charged nor convicted of any crime. I�m sure parents of local children will sleep soundly in their beds knowing that their youngsters are secure from Mr Duckfield�s heinous activities. Such is the outrageous system of �child protection� under which we live today, which seems to protect children from everybody apart from child abusers.
His threatening behaviour was not right. But the outcome adequately demonstrates that the police are far more willing and able to take action against somebody who has reached the end of their tether after trying to get matters resolved properly, than they are against people who park selfishly forcing a blind person to walk in the road.
The story is really all about the breakdown of the deal between the citizen and the State, where the State undertakes to enforce the law and in return citizens renounce their right to take the law into their own hands.
As mentioned, his arrest has almost certainly jeopardised Mr Duckfield�s voluntary work, even though he has been neither charged nor convicted of any crime. I�m sure parents of local children will sleep soundly in their beds knowing that their youngsters are secure from Mr Duckfield�s heinous activities. Such is the outrageous system of �child protection� under which we live today, which seems to protect children from everybody apart from child abusers.
His threatening behaviour was not right. But the outcome adequately demonstrates that the police are far more willing and able to take action against somebody who has reached the end of their tether after trying to get matters resolved properly, than they are against people who park selfishly forcing a blind person to walk in the road.
I have sympathy for the fella and weirdly think his proposed actions are well within the bounds of 'appropriate response'.
Letting someone's tyres down really isn't vandalism, as OEV has said, nothing was actually damaged.
Also, it's not quite fair comparing a blind person to some 18 year old sighted person. Cars parked up on pavements are a menace to someone who can't see. Those of us who can see them can easily avoid such obstacles.
Letting someone's tyres down really isn't vandalism, as OEV has said, nothing was actually damaged.
Also, it's not quite fair comparing a blind person to some 18 year old sighted person. Cars parked up on pavements are a menace to someone who can't see. Those of us who can see them can easily avoid such obstacles.
I snapped this example of inconsiderate parking, on my phone a few weeks back
Pic1
Pic2
Cars parking on the pavement appears to have been decriminalised. It is now the norm rather than the exception. I have seen police cars inconsiderately parked on the pavement. There appears to be no one enforcing the law. It has slowly crepted in over the last ten years and there is now a whole generation of new drivers who think it is acceptable to do this.
We desperately need some small children to be mowed down and killed, and then something might be done.
Pic1
Pic2
Cars parking on the pavement appears to have been decriminalised. It is now the norm rather than the exception. I have seen police cars inconsiderately parked on the pavement. There appears to be no one enforcing the law. It has slowly crepted in over the last ten years and there is now a whole generation of new drivers who think it is acceptable to do this.
We desperately need some small children to be mowed down and killed, and then something might be done.
Also, it's not quite fair comparing a blind person to some 18 year old sighted person. Cars parked up on pavements are a menace to someone who can't see. Those of us who can see them can easily avoid such obstacles.
But the point is that he may be doing it for the good of society and those less fortunate.
Should we go through life thinking, 'well that's okay, it doesn't effect me' or should we try and be thoughtful about others?
But the point is that he may be doing it for the good of society and those less fortunate.
Should we go through life thinking, 'well that's okay, it doesn't effect me' or should we try and be thoughtful about others?
<i.but if it was just a 'white able bodied male in his 30s' would you have the same sympathy?
It was you that brought race into it Vic, so what I now have to ask is, why white able bodied in his 30s?, why unemployed 18 year old youth?
What have these descriptions to do with anything?
If the authorities were so vigorous enforcing the laws of obstruction of the footways, as they are against the obstruction of the highway, the better for all uses of the footways.
One of the biggest offenders are the Local Authorities bin-men. They ask property owners to place their wheelie-bins in such a manner that they will cause no obstruction and with the handles facing to the front. Yet they are all over the footways after they have emptied them.
It was you that brought race into it Vic, so what I now have to ask is, why white able bodied in his 30s?, why unemployed 18 year old youth?
What have these descriptions to do with anything?
If the authorities were so vigorous enforcing the laws of obstruction of the footways, as they are against the obstruction of the highway, the better for all uses of the footways.
One of the biggest offenders are the Local Authorities bin-men. They ask property owners to place their wheelie-bins in such a manner that they will cause no obstruction and with the handles facing to the front. Yet they are all over the footways after they have emptied them.
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two wrongs don't make a right - but in this instance the police have ignored the first wrong and acted only on the second one.
And the second 'wrong' - for those who haven't read the story - did not involve vigilante action. He just threatened to let down tyres, and they arrested him for that.
Easier to arrest a blind man than to do their jobs, I expect.
And the second 'wrong' - for those who haven't read the story - did not involve vigilante action. He just threatened to let down tyres, and they arrested him for that.
Easier to arrest a blind man than to do their jobs, I expect.
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