Rhys Jones, wrong place wrong time?

Question

A police spokesman on tv news has just said that Rhys was in the wrong place at the wrong time!
This despite the boys father previously saying that this conclusion was unacceptable & wrong.
His Son was going about his normal life doing what he always did in the place he always did.
I think it is an appalling statement for the police to say & is just a way for them to avoid any responsibility for what has happened!
The police are paid to protect innocent people from acts such as this & they are failing to do so despite having all the powers they could possibly need!
Where, why, wasn't there a police prescense in the area as there used to be when I was young?
A policeman lived in & was part of every community & was known to & knew everyone!
It was a much safer environment to live in then.
Now the police are segregated from the public who they are trained to see as criminals.
It's time we had a police force we deserve & pay for, they are failing us miserably!
What do you think?

I was motivated to raise this today because having watched the parents of a murdered little 9 year old child talking to the media yesterday when the father denied that his Son had been in the wrong place at the wrong time which touched me deeply.
I am a parent myself & when the police spokesman chose to make the accusation, for that is what it amounts to, of Rhys being in the way of a thug with a gun, I felt wounded & ashamed for what this country has come to.
It was very insensitive at the least for the parents to hear such a thing.
There are many police who do their job in the best way they can but there are some who don't as was clearly shown in the secretly filmed scenes in the documentry about a police station earlier this year.
The blame for the situation we have now where thugs control the streets with impunity is because those in authority at all levels are not doing their jobs properly & innocent members of the public are paying the price.
This situation must be changed...

Rhys was 11 not 9 sorry!

Answer 1

I think your question raises some very good points.
Adding to what you said, I think it comes down to the judges and the very lenient sentences they pass out.
yes I remember the local bobby, he was well liked and we respected him. At most the worst crime committed was writing on a wall " sue+Dave forever"

If stiffer sentences were given , there would be far less crime, I am convinced of that.
let me put it this way, remember the great train robbery? well the mastermind behind that went to prison for life, that was back in the 60's...life meant life.
These days they rob a security van, a bank, and they get such a short sentence, where is the justice. I'm sure in the minds of the criminals , they are thinking, well its worth it to do that, I'll take the risk, whats the worst that can happen ...5 or 6 years.
I can't believe the judge that let the pedophile walk away after 46 offenses, the youngest was 18 months.
Now I ask you, where is the justice in that?
the government need to act fast.

My heart goes out to the parents of little Rhys. such a short life, such a waste of a life, this should never have happened. what type of teenagers would do that, what type of parenting have they had, who is to blame.
The law MUST protect the public, the justice system MUST protect the people.

Answer 2

is there ever a right place right time for such an action think not and would say the police were being a little bit insensitive ....but then the PCs are not PC or trained to be ..well OK maybe a little training in people control soon forgotten ...but are also just people trying to do a job like the rest of us ...and having a cop on the beat when I was wee didn't make any difference were I stayed but yesterday I watched as several youths were stopped searched
and driven away by the police at least 4 times so maybe there is hope out there .....

Answer 3

He was in the right place at the right time, he wasn't doing anything wrong. He had a perfect entitlement to be where he was when he was and these little soundbites that the police offer do nothing to comfort the parents of that boy, nothing to stem the fears of joe public here and absolutely nothing to stop all this madness in the first place.
Where are the police in stopping these guns before they end up in the hands of gangs, drug dealers and bloody teenagers.
How are these guns even getting into this country?...maybe if customs spent more time looking for guns and drugs instead of rifling through the bags of people coming back from Calais then we'd stand a better chance now of avoiding having a bullet lodged in our brains because some sick b*****d thinks that it gives them street cred.
The police are hopeless...they have virtually no powers, they are dictated to by a government that is stuck in centuries long since passed and have no idea how every day people are being affected by crime and the lack of justice given to the victims of that crime.
Whoever committed this terrible crime against this innocent baby will no doubt have some sob story or "justification", if they happen to be under 16 they will be able to resume their life when they are about 21 no doubt and the parents will have to suffer and grieve for the rest of their lives.
How many times have we heard "we are going to be tough on crime" and still there is no evidence of it...the government and the police hide behind flawed statistics that try to make us believe that what looks like a rise in crime is actually just a figment of our imagination...they have no clue, they don't care and it is us who have to live with the fear, intimidation, chaos and aftermath.
We are being failed because the police seem to have lost their authority, our courts are an absolute joke, our government cares more about foreign affairs than domestic and I can honestly say that some days I am scared to leave my home.

Answer 4

Such a horrible story. And any gang related or child murder is horrible but I guess over here in the US it is so common we rarely even hear about it anymore. Both the US and the UK have more then enough money to support more police officers and stop the crime. Quite some time ago I had posted a question asking why British Police did not carry guns. I was speaking to my sons soccer coach (he is from England) a couple days ago and he said he thinks eventually it will get bad enough over there that they may have to because seems things just keeping changing for the worst everywhere opposed for the better if you understand what I mean. Its a shame we have to be so scared for our kids to play outside these days. I remember riding my bike all over town as a kid going and buying penny and nickel candy. I won't let my 14 year old leave the yard on his bike. For many reasons including road rage and stupid drivers. We have had about 70 teen deaths as a result of a car accident since last Novemeber within in a 20-30 minute radius of where I live just since last Nov. Its a scarey world out there.

Answer 5

I don't think he said the wrong thing at all, poor Rhys was probably just that in the wrong place at the wrong time, if there was a policeman standing 10 feet away from him it's more than likely he would still have been killed. It's the mindset now in many people, that life has no meaning and respect for the law has gone and it's not totally the police's fault. By degrees their powers have diminished and the courts give such ludicrous sentences that these lowlifes just laugh in the face of the judicial system. You have to get people back in the frame of looking out for their children, it may be draconian but you can't keep on blaming the police for all of this crime, they are the ones having to pick up the pieces and are damned if they do and damned if they don't, i wouldn't be a policeman today, for anything.

Answer 6

Know what you mean - every time I see his parents I feel the tears starting. They just look so bereft and bewildered. I'm sure the police would oblige by treating witnesses anonymously. Only problem is, what happens when the case goes to court? As for McCann, the best thing Mr & Mrs Jones could do is ignore everything this cold bastard says. Closure indeed. God Bless Rhysx

Answer 7

I personally don't see what is wrong with the police saying he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Yes I do think the police perhaps need more training and more resources but they cannot be everywhere at once. The police are not to blame for this incident. We do need a greater police presence but these crimes will unfortunately still go on.

Answer 8

Bobbys have been off the beat for years and years - most of them are back at base struggling with paperwork and targets.

I think what the policeman meant when he said Rhys was in the wrong place at the wrong time was that the killer did not intentionally target Rhys, he was just shooting his gun (he fired 3 bullets didn't he, one hitting a car) and got Rhys. It doesn't make it alright but I cannot agree with your opinion of our police.

Answer 9

Poor Rhys really did seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but it's a very sad and very worrying sign of the times that life in Britain has changed beyond redemption. Unless our governments impose absolute zero tolerance policies and get tough with criminals, and I mean tough, then we're all in grave danger, and I, for one, am very scared.

Answer 10

Bring back the old type of policemen, seen by
the public pounding the beat taking no lip from anyone.
I have not seen police in the market town where I live, patrolling the streets for years.
We do have a large police station though, so they must be in there!