UK cops spot Facebook notice of "all night" party, scramble armed goons in a chopper to break up small, local BBQ
British cops spotted a Facebook message from a small-town guy who announced an "all-night" party at his house -- a BBQ to celebrate his birthday -- and so they scrambled an armed, helicopter-borne Delta force in body armor to break up the event under Britain's Draconian anti-rave laws. The party had 15 people at it, eating hamburgers. They hadn't put on any music. The police claim that sending out the chopper and the goon squad saved money, compared to what it would have cost to break it up if it had turned into a full-blown, multi-thousand person rave.
The event was closed down under section 63 of the Criminal justice and Public Order Act 1994.Police helicopter sent to 'rave' (via /.)"We were nowhere near anyone, we weren't even playing any music," he said. "What effectively the police did was come in and stop 15 people eating burgers..."
A police spokeswoman said the helicopter was deployed for less than 20 minutes at a cost of about £200...
"On this occasion, we were extremely concerned how the event had been advertised on the internet as an all-night party and it was therefore necessary to take the appropriate steps.
"Had it gone ahead, it is likely that far more of our resources would have been used to police the event and there would have been considerable disruption to neighbouring properties.
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So remind me why anyone lives in the UK by choice again?
£200 for a 20 operation with helicopter and fully armed squad?
Somehow I doubt it. Unless they have some very cheap choppers, running on tap water. Not to mention overtime and compensation for the officers themselves. I'd add at least another 0 at the end there, maybe even 00.
Whatever happened to just having a patrol car just stop by to see what was happening?
Nope, I call BS.
Maybe even shenanigans.
Why am I paying the salaries of these goons? Right, I don't have any choice on the matter. Thanks Mrs. Thatcher, thanks a lot.
What I think was happening in the mind of the officer in charge was that he wanted to be so right because he was so wrong and he'd be lucky to be flying a desk after his superior was through with him.
#1 - Choose to live in the UK? Yes, it's rubbish, and getting worse. Trouble is, any other place I look at is no better, and most (mentioning no names) are much worse.
@SCOTSS0
OK I will,
It's a beautiful country with a rich history which has helped shape the world we live in (not always for the best). It's people are on the whole free thinking, warm hearted and generous. In comparison with the U.S it's murder rate is nowhere near so high, you can sunbathe topless on a beach and you don't have to "thank the Lord" for everything little thing.
I am no apologist for the UK police. I am a member of amnesty and other rights organisations and I find the chipping away at our rights an abomination. Every police force has its over zealous officers and jumped up little pricks. At least in the UK we have never had a police officer pull over and try to strangle an ambulance crew whilst on a call.
If you have never been to the UK then please come over and see us, it not as bad as you've read.
If your an ex-pat then bully for you.
If you happen to live here already at least you have the freedom to move and work anywhere in Europe.
Cory, why the fuck do you live in the UK instead of Canada? Please come back here and help us prevent jerks like this from running the country. It's too late for the UK. We still have a chance.
"British cops spotted a Facebook message from a small-town guy..."
Yup. That's not exactly true though, is it?
"Locals feared a rave was to take place at Sowton, near Exeter, on Saturday and called the police, who closed the event down."
So despite it being a much funnier idea for the police to have been scouring t'internet for potential, the news article you link to doesn't quite say that.
Still, ludicrous. I do, however, live in the UK by choice. We don't seem to have as many tragic mass shootings as other countries and, what with climate change and all, the weather seems to be getting better.
Why does nobody in PR school teach these vegetables that "We made a mistake and we won't do it again" is more effective than any lame excuse. I'm surprised they didn't hold a press conference and say it was a great victory in the war on terror whilst standing in front of a giant banner with "Think of the children!" written on it.
If I were in the UK I would organise as many Facebook advertised BBQ Raves as humanly possible in protest. Then I'd ring the cops and say "Oh my God! there's 15 people eating burgers in my backyard - I'm afraid it's going to turn into a rave with thousands of people. Send SWAT immediately! Don't forget the choppa!".
I think some local with enough juice to make the coppers dance shut down a party.
Lessons learned; be more secretive, have associates make anonymous complaint calls to keep the cops busy running in circles to non-existent "nuisances" elsewhere, put out red herring Facebook notices and generally plan the party like a military operation in an occupied country.
The worst thing is that they are lying about the costs. It costs at least £2,000 an hour to run a copter and police overtime is notoriously expensive - fifteen coppers plus two helicopter pilots, we've got to be looking at at least half a million quid, no worries. Then there's the paperwork guv...
:-)
Ok, perhaps it's worth mentioning some stuff here..
If you were going to have an party that goes on all night in your own house, on your property - is it not up to you to control the noise? Would it not be more appropriate for neighbours to call the cops once the party actually became a nuisance? There's nothing wrong with being prepared, but this example of policing is a bit like a low-budget Minority Report - trying to stop crimes before they happen - except this version was made with the intelligence/budget/foresight of a packet of Monster Munch.
Police assert themselves needlessly because that's how they show the public who's boss - I love that they can shut you down just for eating burgers and having a nice time with your friends. I might do it to them at their policemans barbeque sometime, after all, I'll be paying for their pork.
vs
Unless you know the police acted on their own without requests from the public, I would say that's some fairly unpleasant half truthery from BoingBoing. Left yourself open to accusations of agenda pushing. And you succeeded, judging by the tone of some of the comments.
(It can't be bad research, it's in the 2nd paragraph of the BBC story.)
I say fair comment, I know how the regular media spins things too. Who brings a knife to a gun fight?
#11
Here is my "fair comment" response:
Your tactics are as bad as the Daily Mail's/Fox News's, the only difference is that I happen to share a lot of your views. Your audience doesn't need to be mislead. It makes those of us who might approve of fair play dislike you.(while admitting that such fair play might well be unattainable.)
i want to know what sort of helicopter can take off and land (let alone fly for approximately 20 minutes) for 200 pounds (approx 400 us)?
it CANNOT be done
i love this kind of police overreaction and can't help but think an english version of wiggam gave the go ahead and provided the official outrage.
"they only come out in the night. or in this case, the day."
#13 You could RTFA:
"Devon and Cornwall police said the helicopter flew over the site as it returned from another task."
Of course the Police may be lying, but they state that the helicopter was already in the air. Presumably it cost £200 more than it would have.
you be Gawain, I prefer Perceval.
My "audience" is EVERYONE. Effect matters. The important thing is the tribe survives, the lies can be written later.
ditto on the helicopter cost. You can't even wash the damned windscreen for that kind of money.
I'm not sure whether to love or hate the apparent randomness of UK Policing and the forces of awe and boredom. It's really pretty easy to stay completely below the radar, especially as there is more and more reliance on electronic surveillance. But every once in a while, somebody somewhere gets hurt when they are unlucky enough to be in just the wrong place at just the wrong time.
As for the story, I'd like to think that the organiser demanded to see the warrant, took note of all the ID numbers, ushered the police off their premises and then wrote a stroppy letter to the Chief Constable about harrassment. Before returning to his BBQ and cranking out some killer drum'n'bass on the sound system. Rolling over, touching your hat and closing everything down doesn't seem like the right response in this situation.
#16
It seems we are both arguably naive. "Everyone" reads BoingBoing??? I very much doubt it.
Is there anyone here who doesn't qualify as a tofu-sandal wearing bike-with-a-basket riding (complete stereotype as you see fit) goddam hippie? I certainly am.
I have been made more likely to distrust BoingBoing.
Michael Moore can provide the propaganda/half truths that I agree with, cos he's pretty funny.
I can be funny too, sometimes intentionally.
Err. Guys, I can get a 15 minutes helicopter flight for two at the Wellington Harbour for about 140 GBP.
complete with crew of armed goons? On double overtime?
+1 informative Peterbruells!
It seems that the reality based news isn't relevant for boingboing in this story:-)
The truthiness is.....
Really, the price of the flight is quite irrelevant. Any amount of money would be too much in this case - mainly because there were no crimes being committed. You can get done for 'wasting police time' but what about police wasting their own time? Who pays for that - and the logistics involved in said wasting of time.
To be honest, the person hosting the party should have had enough sense to make it a private event so that only the right people could see it. However, this kind of response is ludicrous and it makes me angry. This is public money being wasted on controlling us like morons. I was born in the UK and recently started paying taxes and I cannot wait to get out of this country and never fund anything it does ever again.
#23 I might be being naive again, but I'd say the ones who called the police originally are the ones who wasted the police time.(As well as the police themselves, who seem to have exercised pretty poor judgement).
I wonder if there was bad blood between the neighbours?
Guardian reports a similar item today:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/20/facebook-surrey-party-farnborough
I wonder how much of this was fake. British police making evidence up as it goes (see the Tomlinson case) and stopping people having fun. What next? Requesting a licence to sing in a pub? Hang on... That already exists. Forcing the pubs to have CCTV cameras as a part of the licencing requests although it'd be illegal to do so? Wait a second....
how do the bad guys win elections?
@24 I'd agree with that. I think it's simply put down as an all-round failure on many levels.
In some ways (and BTW, I am from the UK), this country is extremely backward - and that includes a large proportion of citizens, not just the government and police!
To be honest though, if you lead a relatively inconspicuous life, there really isn't much chance of clashing with any of it... I think in respect of posting these events on Facebook, it's just a case of lesson learned.
from 4:50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEWyI0hAIP0&feature=related
On the other hand:
The consequences of late action:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/8158270.stm
I happened to read about this before I read about it here on boingboing.
I think it's worth mentioning that the guy had hired a £800 sound system and a generator to run it.
Why the police didn't just send two bobbies in a panda to go take a look and used a helicopter I can't be sure but I certainly feel that the audio hardware the guy had hired for 15 people was a tad OTT if not a little conspicuous.
Hang on ... TWO helicopter-monitored, Facebook-announced parties in the same weekend (Devon and Hampshire)?
These things come in threes, mark my words ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/8158270.stm
so the bbc have a story on this too.
"Four teenagers have been released on bail after 100 people were involved in a street fracas near a house party advertised on the Facebook website."
unless these are two completely different things - someone's fibbing.
Let's see, we could call this guy up to inquire about the suspected rave, maybe drive over to talk in person, or we could scramble the choppers and the swat teams.
Which choice belongs to a reasonable police force that does not use any excuse to intimidate people, and which choice belongs to a post 9/11 out of control police state?
In case you were still wondering, yes, the terrorists have indeed won.
#18 Organgebag - while I'm certain that not "everyone" reads boing boing; its' certainly not limited to the tofu-eating hippie variety of person; I'm the steak-eating corporate suite type and I quite enjoy boing boing - I don't always agree with Cory's politics, but I believe that most people that read boing boing can think enough for themselves to realize there a certain element of spin to story like this.
In Cory's defense, as the recepient of several noise complaints in my youth I was never the recepient of a visit from a helicopter. I'd say that there was a little bit of an overreaction to even do a fly over of a helicopter. As noted by another poster, two bobbies and a panda would have sufficed. I still wouldn't quite of gone ZOMG - POLICE STATE! But without that kind of rhetoric and outrage, on occasion, it does embolden the part of society that does desire the police state - but I prefer the more agregious violations like that mayor in the DC area that got his dogs shot in a "drug" bust.
"I say fair comment, I know how the regular media spins things too. Who brings a knife to a gun fight?"
It's counterproductive, though. For example, having followed boingboing for a while, I now assume right off the bat that any posts involving police activities are untruthful. Eventually the only people who take you seriously must be both naive and hate-blinded (like the Fox News audience), but those people are not the ones who need convincing.
i am a crusty curmudgeon with arsenic creme filling and read boingboing every day. also i am a tool of the global capitalist regime, enabling the power-elite banks in their quest for more and more free money. it pays the bills and keeps me safe in my hidden fortress guarded by vicious dogs trained to kill strangers on sight. finally i am scared shitless by the taser on any ossifers belt, even if ive called them myself to shut down a noisy, dangerous activity on land adjoining my own property. an angry cop is a threat to EVERYONE.
@18:
Whether or not it was the catalyst, the police were aware of the party being on FaceBook before they took action. From the article:
"On this occasion, we were extremely concerned how the event had been advertised on the internet as an all-night party and it was therefore necessary to take the appropriate steps."
Tak @24: The vast majority of UK police, including the pilots and observers of police helicopters, are unarmed- outside London, less than 5% are even trained to carry guns. Also, none of them are paid by the hour...
I propose that neither the UK nor Texas are as bad as they come off on BoingBoing, but that things like BoingBoing help keep them from becoming so.
@5: So it's UK or US? There's the rest of the world too (say, Canada), thanks. There's topless ladies here too (a sure marker of civilization, if I've ever known one) and I haven't uttered the Lord's name since the last time I smacked my thumb with a hammer.
Seems like script from a bad parody action movie.
Bad guy with funny accent organizes several facebook parties simultaneosuly at different parts of the city to send the police in a wild goose chase, effectively leaving the Central Bank/Palace/Very Valuable Stuff(TM) totally unprotected.
Our plucky hero (casted by Bruce Willis or similar actor) discovers the plot, only to be forced to stop the bad guys as no one in the police believes him.
This could have been avoided if the dude had check the box which made the event listing invisible to everyone except invitees.
I like the ideas that coppers are surfing the public listings on Facebook to see which people are having a birthday party that goes 'all night' and then saddle up to stomp on the face of the revellers and impose their goon sanctioned curfew.
And by like, I mean, am terrified and greatly saddened.
This is similar to what has already happened in South Korea. Apparently a facebook notice for a local private poker game by English teachers and a tip (?) resulted in a questionable raid by police, leading to an unsubstantiated claim by the police of such being a foreign-run drug and gambling ring:
www.rjkoehler.com/2009/07/02/developing-story-foreigner-drugs-and-gambling-ring/
I think that from now on, everyone throwing any kind of gathering in the UK should call it an "all night party".
You might wonder why he made the post public so that the police could see it, and think that a simple solution would be to make it only to his friends. But in the future, every person will be required to add the "Monitor" as a friend to every social network they belong to. The Monitor will police their "friends only" entries, so that people can't post about their activities without the watchful eye of the law. If people post about drug use, for example, the Monitor will automatically alert the authorities.
"Had it gone ahead, it is likely that far more of our resources would have been used to police the event and there would have been considerable disruption to neighbouring properties."
I love it when anyone in any authoritative or official position tries to save face after they all obviously make themselves look like idiots, they were the same way in Boston during the Moonanite fiasco, they looked like idiots, everyone laughed at them, and they tried to save face by insisting it was a 'hoax device' and taking those guys to court.
Did the goon ask for a Cheeseburger??? that would have been funny
Klink 29: two bobbies in a panda
I'm not sure you can FIT two bobbies in a panda. A tauntaun, maybe, but not a panda.
And it's awfully tempting to advertise an all-night party on Facebook, complete with expensive sound-system rental (and saying please don't show up uninvited), and then send another invite (with the invisible-except-to-invitees checkbox checked) telling all the invitees that the first invite is a complete hoax. Have to have the first one in a public park or something, of course ("guerilla party!"). That way the crashers and the police can have a good time together.
Naw, probably the UK (even the US, these days) has some law under which to charge me for such a completely-justified activity. Besides, I'm too lazy.
#47
> I like the ideas that coppers are surfing the public listings on Facebook
Er, no. Just because they said they were concerned about a particular listing doesn't mean that they "surf the public listings".
Clearly, some nimby got wind of the event and sent the listing to the cops. It's not that hard to understand once you train yourself to look past the distorted, shrieking approach that the media takes to anything remotely involving the Internet.
I'm happy to see that toplessness is considered such a marker of civilization, and can report happily that in large areas of the US, men and women are equally free to go with their chests bare.
In New York state women have been free to go topless since 1992 by state Supreme Court ruling.
As a matter of fact in certain jurisdictions it can be quite profitable as indicated by some of the following headlines:
New York City Pays Woman $29,000 For Going Topless
Point being .. the US is a large place and laws vary according to local (majority) preference in a lot of cases ...
What is really funny is that it is illegal to have a rave in the first place.
So, if I wanted to play a practical joke, I could advertise someone's party/Bar Mitzvah/wedding reception as a rave and the UK cops will shut it down? COOL! :-)
apparently the local police chief was always invited
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/billionaire-impresario-sues-over-tale-of-sex-and-drugs-and-the-cirque-du-soleil-1706008.html
Can you trust a single source to be right?
If you'd linked to the original Slashdot post at http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/07/18/0337223/UK-Police-Raid-Party-After-Seeing-All-Night-Tag-On-Facebook, readers would have had a better chance of reading this different perspective:
Everybody get on facebook and organize FAKE RAVES.
I can't help but mention the Muppets in this comment:
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Bureaucracy
In a post-Henson New Year's Eve special, Telly tries to shut down the New Year's Eve party because he's been told (yep, by Oscar the Grouch) that the old year is going to disappear. Telly's disguise is, naturally, that of a government functionary from The Department of Celebrating and Parties.
Sadly, there's currently no online video I can link to, so the description will have to suffice.
Really not a bad idea to divert attention of over-responsive enforcement to a small innocent BBQ rather than publicly advertise the rave keeping it in an undisclosed location.
Can you trust a single response on some random message board with no citations to be right?
Even if these guys had hosted parties before with problems arising was the chopper and riot police really necessary? As stated before, wouldn't have 1 car and 2 police officers sufficed?
Everyone in the UK with a Facebook account should announce an all-night party for the same night, and watch the authorities scramble to try to cover them all.
There used to be a time when (often for the right and often for the wrong reasons), the western world pointed to something happening in the US, and said "let's not be THAT guy". Now it increasingly seems to be aboout Britain. Is the place really turning into such a nanny/police-state?