CRAP LIKE THIS PISSES ME OFF!!!!!

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One-legged war veteran saves mother and baby from thugs ... only to be arrested for carrying a truncheon



By Vanessa Allen
Last updated at 9:16 AM on 14th June 2008

A one-legged Royal Navy veteran was arrested after he rescued his neighbour from being harassed by two men.

Stephen Beerling, 52, dialled 999 and raced to help the women and her baby after hearing screams during the night.

But he was arrested when officers spotted a retractable truncheon he had picked up in case he had to protect himself.

Mr Beerling, a Liberal Democrat councillor, was arrested, locked up for 12 hours and charged with possessing an offensive weapon.

He told of his ordeal yesterday after learning the Crown Prosecution Service had decided to drop the charge against him.

Mr Beerling, of Maidstone, Kent, said: ' I am relieved, but very disappointed it even came to this. I don't blame the police but maybe they should have used their noggin. Perhaps they were a little inexperienced. The blame lies with the CPS - I just cannot understand why they wanted to press charges.'

Mr Beerling said the drama began at 2.30am on March 19 when he was woken by screams from his next door neighbour and her baby, and the sound of men shouting.

He called police and strapped on the false leg he has worn since his leg was amputated in March 2004 while he was still serving with the Royal Navy.

Aware he was probably outnumbered, he picked up the telescopic truncheon and put it in his back pocket. Mr Beerling then hurried downstairs and went outside where he said his neighbour was being harassed by two men.

He tried to calm the men down while he waited for police. Officers later arrested both suspects and charged them with affray.

But then they also arrested him when they saw the truncheon. Mr Beerling was taken to Maidstone police station, kept in a cell overnight and charged.

His case was due at crown court this week but on Wednesday the CPS decided to drop the charge.

The former sailor said: 'When they tried to open the truncheon, it was all rusted up. I've had it for years and it's just been in a drawer.

'It could be classed as an offensive weapon if it was taken out in public and used with intent. I hadn't even taken it out of my pocket.

'But I wouldn't think twice about stepping in to help people again. I could not have stood by and let it go.

'The most important thing for right-thinking people is to stand up to criminals who blight our society.'

Kent Police and Senior Crown Prosecutor Janet Garnon-Williams said in a statement: 'A decision has been taken jointly to discontinue the case as there is not a realistic prospect of conviction.'

A police spokesman said the two men arrested with Mr Beerling were charged with affray, but the cases were later dropped.

One was charged with possession of cannabis and fined £100 by Maidstone magistrates.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...baby-thugs---arrested-carrying-truncheon.html

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Stephen Beerling was arrested and held for 12 hours after coming to the aid of a mother and baby in distress
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Crap like that pisses me off.

Once again the Orwellian State of the UK has stepped in and instead of thanking it's citizenry to be armed and to be able of taking care of themselves and their neighbors they go ahead and arrest the DAMN HERO!

WTF!!!!!

The "weapon" in question is the Expanding Baton.

21%27_ASP_Baton.jpg


A very common self defense tool sold in the USA. Police use it, security guards use it, and even little old ladies use them. They're legal and they require no permits to own. (Unless you live is a Socialist area like NYC or Washington DC or Chicago.)

After reading the article, I see that they decided to drop the charge against him because “there is not a realistic prospect of conviction”. Does that mean lack of evidence, or the fact that no jury, even in the UK, would convict the guy?

I also noticed that they decided to drop the charges of affray against the two scumbags that started it all, though they did fine one for marijuana possession. So I guess the status quo is maintained. Criminals are free to ply their trade and citizens are free to be totally defenseless.

What I have noticed from research is that this particular brand of crap started with the Prevention of Crime Act 1953. Yeah, don’t laugh, Parliament apparently thought they had prevented crime 55 years ago. This made it illegal to carry an “offensive weapon” in a public place without good reason or lawful excuse. Under the Act, there is no such thing as a “defensive weapon” by the way.

The Act was passed because there was a moral panic about armed gangs of youths using weapons such as flick knives (switchblades in American) and bicycle chains to attack each other. The upshot is that the cops arrest anyone with an “offensive weapon”. But wait, what do the cops carry? Why collapsable or side handled batons. Why is this legal? Because they have a lawful excuse: the maintenance of the Queen’s peace. But this lawful excuse is not just open to them, it is available to any citizen. Thus the man in this case, who was undoubtedly acting to maintain the Queen’s peace, could not have been convicted, assuming the cops had not tricked him into pleading guilty in reurn for a caution. As ever, it pays to know the law!

By the way, the 1953 Act did not prevent youth gangs using flick knives, so the sale of these, along with “gravity knives” was banned in 1959. Criminals refusing to obey the law eh? Who could have seen that one coming? The ownership and sale of bicycle chains is, for the time being, legal in the United Kingdom, but given the insanity of our politicians, I would not like to say that will always be the case. Anyway, UK criminals these days prefer to use handguns. You know, the things Tony Blair banned in 1997. The moral of this story? Never turn up to a gun fight with a bicycle chain.
 
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People are micromanaged by the government with laws that govern everything because time and time again they show the inability to think for themselves.
 
We, as a country, have degenerated too far to come back. No politician will say "i'm going to destroy certain legislation" because minorities would kick out. It's all about the minorities these days.
 
For police purposes anyway, not sure if it count for civilians, the PR24 is considered a defensive weapon as far as court is concerned where as the asp is considered offensive. Keep in mind, this is as far as Federal court is concerned. Not sure of the rest.
 
AikiRooster said:
For police purposes anyway, not sure if it count for civilians, the PR24 is considered a defensive weapon as far as court is concerned where as the asp is considered offensive. Keep in mind, this is as far as Federal court is concerned. Not sure of the rest.
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Florida views it as a legal self defense weapon. Citizens are allowed to carry them on their persons without any permit.
 
PR-24 Baton
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Expanding Baton
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Mr. Beerling used an expanding baton. The description of the truncheon used stated that it was rusted and was hard to open. PR-24s don't do that.

But as for Florida Law. Yes, a Citizen can carry a PR-24. There is no law against them. But they aren't carried by many police anymore either. Expanding Batons are the common tool now. They're small, compact, and when needed do the same job.
 
The PR24 comes in the collapsible version too these days but your right most departments prefer the ASP. Unfortunately, this is because it requires less training and is faster to certify the officers with is the main reason. Some department's, though rare, still use the PR24/Tonfa. Usually, these days, they tend to be the Feds but not always there either. I prefer the PR24, liked it better and enjoyed the training and teaching it more. I thought it has much more use for an officer than just the ASP, although, many officers preferred the ASP because it was smaller, took up less room on their belt and didn't poke them getting in their cruisers.

The ASP doesn't do the same job, unless your talking about only the striking portion? The ASP has some locking and joint lock features but most department's didn't like for me to teach that because they were always worried about liability. With the PR24 on the other hand, in order to be certified, some of it's joint locking functions were required to be successfully passed by the student in order for me to certify them. This is one of the many reasons I preferred the PR24, not to mention it was easier for officers to justify it's use in court because they 9 times out of 10 used for a defensive purpose, at least initially. When an officer draws his/her ASP, their's little question as to what the officer intended to do, at least as far as a jury's concerned.

The civilians that can carry in Florida, do they have to be certified first, say through Manadnock?
 
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the_13th_redneck said:
People are micromanaged by the government with laws that govern everything because time and time again they show the inability to think for themselves.
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that never did apply to us here. We managed ourselves pretty damn well until this damn authoritarian crew took over in 1997. Since then the country has been on the slippery slope.

This ex-naval guy managed bloody well did he not? And the police responded with typical current lack of commonsense.

We've got to turn things around.
 
It is difficult for me to judge the officer's in this case because I wasn't there. Looking at it from the civilian level it is easy to wish the officer's would have used common sense. However, the officer's may have indeed used common sense as far as their positions are concerned, not to mention the fact that from what's written here, we don't know their departmental policy to make a better educated judgment on what was done in this scenario.
 
Expandable is the proper word they use, same thing though expandable/collapsible, they been out for about 15 years. Another thing that makes the PR24 superior is the draw as well. The PR24 draw is a strike in itself, the ASP is suppose to be but is not as effective in my opinion.
 
Del Boy said:
that never did apply to us here. We managed ourselves pretty damn well until this damn authoritarian crew took over in 1997. Since then the country has been on the slippery slope.

This ex-naval guy managed bloody well did he not? And the police responded with typical current lack of commonsense.

We've got to turn things around.
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I was referring to the idiots who arrested him.
 
I guess I learn something new everyday... Now one in South Florida carries PR-24s except for Riot Details. We all use the expanding batons. Whether they are ASPs or another brand.
 
We have an option. PR-24, expandable baton's (ASP), straight batons or even Orcutt Police Nunchukas (OPN). My agency wants you to carry something your comfortable with, just like our weapons you can pretty much carry anything in reason as long as you qual with it.
 
I knew LAPD utilized the chucks, that's a fairly new weapon introduced to law enforcement. Love the joint locks with those but very few agencies I trained would let me teach their people, again the liability BS.
 
I've ceritified on OPN's but I don't carry them. I can do joint locks just as well with my PR24 and still have a more viable impact weapon. IMO.
 
The chucks give you different and a little more options with the joint locks. I too preferred the PR24, the main reason being because in a dynamic situation in real hand to hand combat, the tonfa is easier to control and keep possession of without hurting yourself. In order to stay proficient with the chucks takes a lot more training and much more often than any department I've ever trained was willing to require their troops to train for that stuff. The chucks give you some defensive strategy. but no where near the amount aa the tonfa, also IMO.

Did you ever see the curved PR24? Really neat. When you block things, say a stick swung at you, it glances off easier and the PR24 user doesn't have to absorb the blow as much.
 
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