In response to the manhunt
Last week, it looked for a few alarming hours as though lives on Arran might be in danger. A ‘big brute of a man’ was heard to be muttering about suicide in Mac’s Bar...
Written by Alison Prince
Friday, 25 May 2007
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Last week, it looked for a few alarming hours as though lives on Arran might be in danger. After a ‘big brute of a man’ was heard to be muttering about suicide in Mac’s Bar, where his tattoos, skin-head and long black coat made him an object of suspicion, Chinese Whispers soon had it that a maniac was running wild on Brodick beach, threatening people with a gun. The police swung into action, deploying extra forces, a helicopter and full back-up for a potentially critical situation.
There was no gun. Nobody was threatened, and the man whom the police picked up from Goatfell gave no trouble, merely saying he felt ‘a bit unstable’. He was taken to Kilmarnock Court on Monday and released on bail. Inevitably, mutterings started about waste of police time and public money. The facts behind the case, however, more than justify the full response. Scott Morrison, the man in question, had served time for attempted murder, and had been deported from Australia for threatening to kill a policeman whom he thought to be having an affair with his girlfriend. Police confirmed that Scott was ‘volatile and dangerous’.
Policing is an emotive subject. Some see the police as our protectors, protecting society from criminals, while others regard them as a prejudiced group, always ready to believe the worst of under-privileged people. It’s easy to complain that they over-react or under-react. We all carry an internal ache of grief over the tragedy of Dunblane, and ask, too late, whether warning signs might have been ignored, but equally tragic was the panicky extremism that led to the shooting by police of an innocent man in Stockwell. When mistakes of that magnitude are made, they leave a terrible mark. The memorial in Dunblane Cathedral is a silent reminder, and to this day, people who live near Stockwell underground station put flowers on the shrine of remembrance they built against the wall outside.
Lapses, however tragic their results, cannot condemn an entire professional body. As the closing line of ‘Some Like It Hot’ so memorably says, “Nobody’s perfect”. The police, acutely aware of their responsibility for public safety, have an absolute duty to respond to a situation that seems likely to be dangerous. If the information they receive is a bit wide of the mark, causing them to put a lot of resources into an exercise that might not have been essential, we should not carp. Next time – though we fervently hope there will not be a next time – we might have cause to be grateful.
Friday, 25 May 2007
1 view 0 commentsLast week, it looked for a few alarming hours as though lives on Arran might be in danger. After a ‘big brute of a man’ was heard to be muttering about suicide in Mac’s Bar, where his tattoos, skin-head and long black coat made him an object of suspicion, Chinese Whispers soon had it that a maniac was running wild on Brodick beach, threatening people with a gun. The police swung into action, deploying extra forces, a helicopter and full back-up for a potentially critical situation.
There was no gun. Nobody was threatened, and the man whom the police picked up from Goatfell gave no trouble, merely saying he felt ‘a bit unstable’. He was taken to Kilmarnock Court on Monday and released on bail. Inevitably, mutterings started about waste of police time and public money. The facts behind the case, however, more than justify the full response. Scott Morrison, the man in question, had served time for attempted murder, and had been deported from Australia for threatening to kill a policeman whom he thought to be having an affair with his girlfriend. Police confirmed that Scott was ‘volatile and dangerous’.
Policing is an emotive subject. Some see the police as our protectors, protecting society from criminals, while others regard them as a prejudiced group, always ready to believe the worst of under-privileged people. It’s easy to complain that they over-react or under-react. We all carry an internal ache of grief over the tragedy of Dunblane, and ask, too late, whether warning signs might have been ignored, but equally tragic was the panicky extremism that led to the shooting by police of an innocent man in Stockwell. When mistakes of that magnitude are made, they leave a terrible mark. The memorial in Dunblane Cathedral is a silent reminder, and to this day, people who live near Stockwell underground station put flowers on the shrine of remembrance they built against the wall outside.
Lapses, however tragic their results, cannot condemn an entire professional body. As the closing line of ‘Some Like It Hot’ so memorably says, “Nobody’s perfect”. The police, acutely aware of their responsibility for public safety, have an absolute duty to respond to a situation that seems likely to be dangerous. If the information they receive is a bit wide of the mark, causing them to put a lot of resources into an exercise that might not have been essential, we should not carp. Next time – though we fervently hope there will not be a next time – we might have cause to be grateful.
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