Larking around with lightsabres? BEWARE!

Half the force be with you
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2002270944,00.html
By SARA NATHAN
and JUSTIN PENROSE

A TEENAGE girl larking with a toy Star Wars lightsaber was surrounded by
TEN cops who feared it was a samurai sword.

Alice Gibson, 19, had half the force with her in minutes when she and
two pals were spotted with the pretend weapon.

The officers - wearing body armour - swooped after security men saw the
trio on CCTV screens.

Two patrol cars and a police van arrived as they messed about with the
Jedi gadget in a Wimpy bar.

The 20 flashing lightsaber belonged to Alice's friend, student Leah
Best, 19, whose first name sounds like Star Wars heroine Princess Leia.

They were in the fast food restaurant in Uxbridge, West London, with
Louise Petchey - also 19 - and began joking with the boss.

Office administrator Alice said: "We were mucking about.
"Louise was pretending to hit the manager with the lightsaber and he got
it from her. We were standing outside the restaurant when two police
cars and an ambulance drove by.

"At first they went down the street, and we thought there had been a
fight.

"Then they returned and about ten officers in bullet-proof vests got
out.

"We only went to get a vanilla milkshake and suddenly there were police
surrounding us.

"They asked the manager to come towards them. They made him stand up
against the van before they realised it was a plastic lightsaber.

"They apologised and said security men in a CCTV room reported a fight.

"When they realised their mistake, some of the officers laughed but most
of them looked really embarrassed.

"I can't believe they actually thought we had a real sword.

We were all in stitches.

"One of them even said, 'Don't do it again,' which made us laugh even
more."

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Officers established the article
was harmless. No further action was taken."

---

Nick Waterman. Senior Systems Administrator, Research In Motion
mailto:sig@ http://noseynick.com/ http://www.rim.net/
AX25:G7RZQ@#32.GBR.EU #include <stddisclaimer> Team *AMIGA*!
A prime candidate for natural deselection

On Wed, 19 June 2002, Nick Waterman wrote
That's the Met for you. They shot a guy for carrying a table-leg three
years ago, and recently they're saying that they'd do it again. This
stuff is serious, I'm afraid.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_2051000/2051597.stm

It looks like policemen aren't smart enough to carry guns safely. So
please ... be careful out there.

Well to be fair that was because a member of the public had told them he was
carrying a sawn-off shotgun. Its not like they just shoot anyone carrying
furniture...

Andy
_____________________
andy@
http://andy.clanwren.com
07968 357 854

yes, but i wouldn't put it past them.

On Wed, 19 June 2002, "Andrew Wren" wrote
by
was
Probably not. But the other case involved some security camera
centre calling the police and telling them that the two friends
had "samurai swords".

It might be interesting to compare the number of people killed by
guns fired by civilians with the number of people killed by guns
fired by the Met. The guns are to protect the police, not the
public.


But that is off-topic, really. The important message is the one
I'm sure Nick wanted to send, too - be careful where you play with
lightsabres, water-pistols, or whatever, because dangerous armed
men who happen to work for the Metropolitan Police might come and
shoot you.

Hell you know what? Let's disband the Met and see how much safer London
becomes.

Andy
_____________________
andy@
http://andy.clanwren.com
07968 357 854