Posted on 07/10/2006 2:15:33 AM PDT by managusta
One of the region's top cops has called for a ban on pointed blades so that they cannot be used as lethal weapons.
The Chief Constable of Northumbria police Mike Craik said he would like to see implements like kitchen knives only being sold with rounded ends to make them safer.
He explained: "You rarely get victims who are sliced to death . . . they are usually stabbed.
"So, the problem is pointed knives. If you ask chefs how many times they need to use pointed knives they'll tell you they don't need them at all."
Mr Craik spoke out after backing the Sunday Sun's `No To Knives' campaign.
We want anybody convicted of carrying a knife or bladed weapon in public without lawful excuse to face an immediate jail sentence.
Mr Craik agreed that the justice system should be much tougher, and said it would give an incentive for his officers to carry out more stop and searches of those suspected of carrying a weapon.
He said: "As a police force we can do our bit and as long as the justice system use their sentencing powers and give meaningful sanctions then we can make a difference.
"I can increase stop and searches and arrests for carrying knives but without help from the justice system to create a deterrent that is not going to be productive.
"Carrying a knife is like getting caught carrying a gun . . . there has to be a sanction that reflects the seriousness of what you are doing. This is why I'm backing the Sunday Sun's campaign."
Northumbria Police have now joined Cleveland and Cumbria in backing the campaign.
Durham Police chief John Stoddart and North Yorkshire top cop Della Cannings have so far refused to get behind it.
According to Mr Craik, it is far too easy to obtain a knife or other bladed weapon and he questioned why there are so many so-called hunting knives on sale when there are not that many people who actually hunt.
He said: "Why are shops allowed to sell samurai swords or hunting knives to the public? I don't know anyone who uses a hunting knife, so why are there so many of them on sale?"
He dismissed suggestions that the clamour against knives is a knee-jerk reaction to a spate of recent stabbings in the region, including that of charity health worker Ashleigh Ewing and Carie Burns.
Ashleigh died on a home visit to a patient in Heaton, Newcastle, while Carie was killed with a samurai sword in Consett, County Durham.
Mr Craik said: "There is a realisation among the public that there is a real risk and that kids, particularly young males, are at the greatest risk.
"The current concern about knives is an emotional reaction to the risk to our children.
"This is why a deterrent sanction will make a difference . . . but we haven't got that at the moment.
"If the only issue to tougher sanctions is the capacity of prisons then there are ways of achieving this. For instance, if you have people jailed for non-payment of fines then get them out and create capacity that way.
"But even tougher sentencing will not make the problem disappear.
"It's about reducing the risk and managing it as effectively as we can.
"As a police force all we can do is make our opinion known and be willing to help reduce the incidence of knife crime."
Self-defense Against Fresh Fruit
Colonel (Graham Chapman):
Get some discipline into those chaps, Sergeant Major!
Sargeant (John Cleese, shouting throughout):
Right sir! Good evening, class.
All (mumbling):
Good evening.
Sargeant:
Where's all the others, then?
All:
They're not here.
Sgt.:
I can see that. What's the matter with them?
All:
Dunno.
Chapman (member of class):
Perhaps they've got 'flu.
Sgt.:
Huh! 'Flu, eh? They should eat more fresh fruit. Ha. Right. Now, self-defence. Tonight I shall be carrying on from where we got to last week when I was showing you how to defend yourselves against anyone who attacks you with armed with a piece of fresh fruit.
(Grumbles from all)
Palin:
Oh, you promised you wouldn't do fruit this week.
Sgt.:
What do you mean?
Jones:
We've done fruit the last nine weeks.
Sgt.:
What's wrong with fruit? You think you know it all, eh?
Palin:
Can't we do something else?
Idle (Welsh):
Like someone who attacks you with a pointed stick?
Sgt.:
Pointed stick? Oh, oh, oh. We want to learn how to defend ourselves against pointed sticks, do we? Getting all high and mighty, eh? Fresh fruit not good enough for you eh? Well I'll tell you something my lad. When you're walking home tonight and some great homicidal maniac comes after you with a bunch of loganberries, don't come crying to me! Now, the passion fruit. When your assailant lunges at you with a passion fruit...
All:
We done the passion fruit.
Sgt.:
What?
Chapman:
We done the passion fruit.
Palin:
We done oranges, apples, grapefruit...
Jones:
Whole and segments.
Palin:
Pomegranates, greengages...
Chapman:
Grapes, passion fruit...
Palin:
Lemons...
Jones:
Plums...
Chapman:
Mangoes in syrup...
Sgt.:
How about cherries?
All:
We did them.
Sgt.: Red and black?
All:
Yes!
Sgt.:
All right, bananas.
(All sigh.)
Sgt.:
We haven't done them, have we? Right. Bananas. How to defend yourself against a man armed with a banana. Now you, come at me with this banana. Catch! Now, it's quite simple to defend yourself against a man armed with a banana. First of all you force him to drop the banana; then, second, you eat the banana, thus disarming him. You have now rendered him 'elpless.
Palin:
Suppose he's got a bunch.
Sgt.:
Shut up.
Idle:
Suppose he's got a pointed stick.
Sgt.:
Shut up. Right now you, Mr Apricot.
Chapman:
'Arrison.
Sgt.:
Sorry, Mr. 'Arrison. Come at me with that banana. Hold it like that, that's it. Now attack me with it. Come on! Come on! Come at me! Come at me then! (Shoots him.)
Chapman:
Aaagh! (dies.)
Sgt.:
Now, I eat the banana. (Does so.)
Palin:
You shot him!
Jones:
He's dead!
Idle:
He's completely dead!
Sgt.:
I have now eaten the banana. The deceased, Mr Apricot, is now 'elpless.
Palin:
You shot him. You shot him dead.
Sgt.:
Well, he was attacking me with a banana.
Jones:
But you told him to.
Sgt.:
Look, I'm only doing me job. I have to show you how to defend yourselves against fresh fruit.
Idle:
And pointed sticks.
Sgt.:
Shut up.
Palin:
Suppose I'm attacked by a man with a banana and I haven't got a gun?
Sgt.:
Run for it.
Jones:
You could stand and scream for help.
Sgt.:
Yeah, you try that with a pineapple down your windpipe.
Jones:
A pineapple?
Sgt.:
Where? Where?
Jones:
No I just said: a pineapple.
Sgt.:
Oh. Phew. I thought my number was on that one.
Jones:
What, on the pineapple?
Sgt.:
Where? Where?
Jones:
No, I was just repeating it.
Sgt.:
Oh. Oh. I see. Right. Phew. Right that's bananas then. Now the raspberry. There we are. 'Armless looking thing, isn't it? Now you, Mr Tin Peach.
Jones:
Thompson.
Sgt.:
Thompson. Come at me with that raspberry. Come on. Be as vicious as you like with it.
Jones:
No.
Sgt.:
Why not?
Jones:
You'll shoot me.
Sgt.:
I won't.
Jones:
You shot Mr. Harrison.
Sgt.:
That was self-defence. Now come on. I promise I won't shoot you.
Idle:
You promised you'd tell us about pointed sticks.
Sgt.:
Shut up. Come on, brandish that raspberry.
Come at me with it. Give me Hell.
Jones:
Throw the gun away.
Sgt.:
I haven't got a gun.
Jones:
You have.
Sgt.:
Haven't.
Jones:
You shot Mr 'Arrison with it.
Sgt.:
Oh, that gun.
Jones:
Throw it away.
Sgt.:
Oh all right. How to defend yourself against a redcurrant -
without a gun.
Jones:
You were going to shoot me!
Sgt.:
I wasn't.
Jones:
You were!
Sgt.:
No, I wasn't, I wasn't. Come on then. Come at me. Come on you weed! You weed, do your worst! Come on, you puny little man. You weed...
(Sgt. pulls a lever in the wall-
CRASH! a 16-ton weight falls on Jones)
Jones:
Aaagh.
Sgt.:
If anyone ever attacks you with a raspberry, just pull the lever and the 16-ton weight will fall on top of him.
Palin:
Suppose there isn't a 16-ton weight?
Sgt.:
Well that's planning, isn't it? Forethought.
Palin:
Well how many 16-ton weights are there?
Sgt.:
Look, look, look, Mr Knowall. The 16-ton weight is just one way of dealing with a raspberry killer. There are millions of others!
Idle:
Like what?
Sgt.:
Shootin' him?
Palin:
Well what if you haven't got a gun or a 16-ton weight?
Sgt.:
Look, look. All right, smarty-pants. You two, you two, come at me then with raspberries. Come on, both of you, whole basket each.
Palin:
No guns.
Sgt.:
No.
Palin:
No 16-ton weights.
Sgt.:
No.
Idle:
No pointed sticks.
Sgt.:
Shut up.
Palin:
No rocks up in the ceiling.
Sgt.:
No.
Palin:
And you won't kill us.
Sgt.:
I won't.
Palin:
Promise.
Sgt.:
I promise I won't kill you. Now. Are you going to attack me?
Palin and Idle:
Oh, all right.
Sgt.:
Right, now don't rush me this time. Stalk me. Do it properly. Stalk me. I'll turn me back. Stalk up behind me, close behind me, then in with the redcurrants! Right? O.K. start moving. Now the first thing to do when you're being stalked by an ugly mob with redcurrants is to - release the tiger!
(He does so. Growls. Screams.)
Sgt.:
The great advantage of the tiger in unarmed combat is that he eats not only the fruit-laden foe but also the redcurrants. Tigers however do not relish the peach. The peach assailant should be attacked with a crocodile. Right, now, the rest of you, where are you? I know you're hiding somewhere with your damsons and prunes. Well I'm ready for you. I've wired meself up to 200 tons of gelignite, and if any one of you so much as makes a move we'll all go up together! Right, right. I warned you. That's it...
(Explosion.)
Thanks to http://www.jumpstation.ca/recroom/comedy/python/banana.html
Yes, so the penalty will have to be very harsh for doing that, it's nearly as bad as gun ownership.
It's the rocks I'm worried about. England's full of rocks, and a rock can be used to kill someone. Murders have been committed with rocks since the Stone Age, and an irresponsible person with a rock can really hurt someone. I would recommend banning all rocks except that England itself is a huge rock. What to do, what to do?
What the Brits need are cops with guns and the right to use them like in the US.
We need a big, strong, powerful state that can protect us all from harming each other. And we need it now.
'what is WRONG with the English?!?!?!?!?'
Yes, we are evil! Damn our tradition of free speech and letting people (even coppers) be allowed to voice their stupid ideas,like this one! :D
"Well what about pointed sticks?"
Exactly! This stuff is beyond parody.
"Bang Bang Maxwell, SILVER HAMMER came down upon her head !"
Lets do a couple of things here. First lets put a serial number on them, then lets create a mountain of paperwork, of course we need a govt agency to track that paperwork. And since we know that wont work lets create smart knives that can only be used by their owner. Then we'll need knife buy back efforts to get the old knives off the streets.
this has worked so well with guns its bound to work with kinves.
/sarc
ban awls, nails (especially larger than 16 penny) (bright and common and galvanized), screwdrivers, BBQ skewers, metal garden stakes, blah blah...
Top Cop looking for a promotion...Can I get any more liberal?
"
Yes, we are evil! Damn our tradition of free speech and letting people (even coppers) be allowed to voice their stupid ideas,like this one!"
Ahhh but there is a difference. This isn't some bloke standing on a street corner. This is a guy who is using his position of public authority to push this stupid idea.
He explained: "You rarely get victims who are sliced to death . . . they are usually stabbed."So, the problem is pointed knives.
Quick! Hide the Etruscan! Now we know why those old hoards turn up buried in some garden - the inmates are running the asylum..
The Department of Cutlery, Sharp Object Division
Both Emeril Lagasse and Keith Famie are said to be in hiding, in contact only with attorneys.
I'd like to see dull-edged paper so I won't get any more paper cuts.
"Ahhh but there is a difference. This isn't some bloke standing on a street corner. This is a guy who is using his position of public authority to push this stupid idea."
Beat me to it.
A ban on assault knioves.
An assault knife is any knife over 3 inches long that has a point.
I'm sorry, what were we talking about?
Mark
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