Police seizing bedding from homeless people

[Mecky]

I can’t understand why anyone is homeless when the country is full of religious people and chartable people with spare rooms in their homes.

 

Or that there are approximately 700k vacant properties in the UK.

[taxman]

Well said Mr Smith, I love to hear the outrage expressed by the liberal wooly do gooders when the authorities take appropriate action against the great unwashed.

 

Let all those who object to the Met doing their job, take in the dirty and dispossessed, surely you could erect a few bunks in your spare room, or allow a few tents in the back garden?

 

I wasn't aware that it was the job of the police to steal peoples' belongings.

 

Their actions did nothing to help give these people a roof above their heads nor did it do anything to prevent them begging. Quite the opposite in fact.

 

Why take peoples' food off them? How is removing their tents and blankets helping them in any way? Police shouldn't be used as unofficial bailiffs, they are there to prevent and investigate crime. If crimes were committed why were there no arrests? If crimes were not being committed then it was a waste of police time and money.

 

---------- Post added 26-05-2013 at 13:51 ----------

 

I assumed normal rules of pronunciation. The names looked foreign to me (eastern European?), suggesting perhaps they were immigrants.

 

Of course, only a cynic would suggest that being immigrants or not would make any difference to how unpleasantly the police treated them.

 

But it's OK, according to the Police statement, it didn't happen anything like that...

 

Your link doesn't work.

[howden]

Police Statement link

 

http://content.met.police.uk/News/Statement-in-response-to-newspaper-claims-about-policing-of-homeless-people-in-Redbridge/1400017517903/1257246745756

[jfish1936]

Bible quotes are out of fashion, but:

 

http://biblehub.com/exodus/22-26.htm

 

If you at all take your neighbor's raiment to pledge, you shall deliver it to him by that the sun goes down: 27For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep?

[cgksheff]

Statement by Borough Commander Sue Williams of Redbridge Police in response to the Ilford Recorder article ‘No mercy for the homeless’ (23/5/13)

 

"Police from Redbridge have not taken food or sleeping bags from members of the homeless community. A police operation was carried out, but it was not as described in the article.

 

“Redbridge Safer Neighbourhoods Teams work hard to resolve issues of importance to our residents and businesses. Homeless people and street drinkers are often raised as a significant cause of concern by local residents, schools, businesses and local politicians. These are about health risks from dirty items left in public areas, anti-social behaviour, shouting and swearing, drunkenness and drug misuse.

 

“We carried out an operation on 15th May to tackle some of those issues. At the request of police, local authority staff from StreetScene attended to remove discarded, soiled items which were a danger to health.

 

“A local school, which had raised concerns for their pupils, allowed police access to a disused swimming pool on 15 May to remove trespassers. Police entered and a man and a woman, who are not as named in the Ilford Recorder article, were found. Police spoke with them and they left with their sleeping bags and personal possessions. No items were seized by police. Local authority staff cleared up drug paraphernalia, a soiled gym mattress, rotting food and other rubbish from the location.

 

“Police and Council staff then went to a cemetery where they spoke to a rough sleeper who removed his tent and left after he was asked to. An unoccupied tent with a sleeping bag inside was found on a gravestone, a note was left for the owner to remove it within one week. StreetScene staff assisted in the removal of rubbish from the bushes, including two soiled sleeping bags. These abandoned items, which were considered a health hazard, and the other rubbish, were placed in a bin lorry. Police also visited a local supermarket car park and spoke to a woman, who was sleeping in an alcove of a nearby building; nothing was taken from her.

 

“Redbridge police will be holding a multi agency partnership meeting, including the voluntary sector, to agree a long term strategy to provide a solution to the issues associated with anti-social behaviour and homelessness in the borough.

 

“I am committed to Partnership working to tackle the problem of homelessness, and street drinking in Redbridge. But at the same time police will deal with criminal offences anti-social behaviour that makes the public feel unsafe.”

[MrSmith]

I wasn't aware that it was the job of the police to steal peoples' belongings.

 

 

The police take peoples belongings for all sorts of reasons, sometimes it’s a car, other times it might be a knife or crowbar.

[Plain Talker]

Or that there are approximately 700k vacant properties in the UK.

 

Many of these are quite probably MPs' second, third or even fourth homes, so we cannot possibly impinge on their rights by expecting someone in need to be allowed to have them as rooves over their head...

 

---------- Post added 26-05-2013 at 18:32 ----------

 

I wasn't aware that it was the job of the police to steal peoples' belongings.

 

were they confiscated as weapons of mass insulation?

[Hairyloon]

It would appear that there are a lot of council tenants with a spare room.

Instead of paying tax on that perhaps there should be a tax relief for letting it out to a homeless person!

 

There is. You are not taxed on rent from a lodger.

[donkey]

A very large proportion of homeless people have mental health problems. Simple (minded) solutions such as billeting them with lefty liberal, do-gooder, terrorist appeasing tree huggers - or whatever offensive term is currently in vogue to describe anyone who doesn't concur with the psychotically venemous views of our disturbed right wing zealot friends - just aren't good enough to solve such a complex problem.

[Stan Tamudo]

I can’t understand why anyone is homeless when the country is full of religious people and chartable people with spare rooms in their homes.