Last night as I got to my bus stop outside the Peace gardens I noticed a blag carryall just sat by itself on the furthest stone bench (just by the women's toilets). I was suspicious, and was about to phone the police when another man noticed it, and started to ask people if it belonged to them.

Apparently it belonged to dark skinned gentleman who was stood at the bus stop (some thirty feet from his bag). Why he felt the need to leave his bag so far away I don't know, but he went to stand near his bag and I would have left it that.

But no, two community support police officers happened to be walking past, so they other guy who noticed the bag decided to tell them about it. They then went to "talk" to the bag man, and spent the next twenty minutes (or more - my bus actually turned up so I went home) checking some documents and radioing in.

Now, I know paranoia's a wonderful thing, and they were right to make absolutely sure of things, but after the guy had shown them what was in his bag (ie, paper) shouldn't they just have given him a ticking off and told him to be more careful?

Leaving the bag on its own was a truly stupid thing to do though, especially given the events of the last week!

Originally posted by mr_chris
Last night as I got to my bus stop outside the Peace gardens I noticed a blag carryall just sat by itself on the furthest stone bench (just by the women's toilets). I was suspicious, and was about to phone the police when another man noticed it, and started to ask people if it belonged to them.

Apparently it belonged to dark skinned gentleman who was stood at the bus stop (some thirty feet from his bag). Why he felt the need to leave his bag so far away I don't know, but he went to stand near his bag and I would have left it that.

But no, two community support police officers happened to be walking past, so they other guy who noticed the bag decided to tell them about it. They then went to "talk" to the bag man, and spent the next twenty minutes (or more - my bus actually turned up so I went home) checking some documents and radioing in.

Now, I know paranoia's a wonderful thing, and they were right to make absolutely sure of things, but after the guy had shown them what was in his bag (ie, paper) shouldn't they just have given him a ticking off and told him to be more careful?

Leaving the bag on its own was a truly stupid thing to do though, especially given the events of the last week!

sometimes they need to scare the people a bit so they realise what they have done and will never do it again... would you be writing this post if the town had been evacuated and controlled explosions carried out? all this consumes police time and costs a lot of money whilst also causing more tensions and terror. Also the fact that had it been a bomb scare they would have to redirect all the buses and you probably wouuld not have got home for very long time...

so in a word NO.. (they done the right thing.)

They have to fully report it - incase after they have walked off, he meanders 30ft away again and somebody dials 999. Their thorough report could have prevented a subsequent city center evacuation. :thumbsup:

A couple of years ago there was some div (adult BTW) 'shooting' people outside the chippy with a very real looking caps gun from a car window just before chucking out time.

I rang the police to report the incident only so they didn't call out the armed response unit if somebody else rang later. They took it very seriously :thumbsup:

Yes it was a silly thing to do.

But I don't know if you've noticed but a lot of asylum seekers use the Peace Garden, sometimes they're not clued up about this kind of thing because they're not used to the terrorist control stuff over here and may not know too much about the bombings in London because of language probs.

I really felt I had to say something as visiting the peace gardens has really made me change my views on asylum seekers/immigrants.

My niece loves to go there because she likes paddling and running through the fountains. I admit I might have been a bit bigoted in the past, but not after what we've seen there. Everyone goes on about how awful asylum seekers are, but there are a lot of them in the peace gardens just sitting looking at the fountains and enjoying being somewhere nice in the sunshine, because they don't have any money to do anything else.

My niece plays with their children and we sit and chat to them. we've had people coming up uninvited and giving us biscuits and making friends. It really is a great place, it's called the peace gardens and it really is.........

[QUOTE][i]
rants.

My niece loves to go there because she likes paddling and running through the fountains. I admit I might have been a bit bigoted in the past, but not after what we've seen there. Everyone goes on about how awful asylum seekers are, but there are a lot of them in the peace gardens just sitting looking at the fountains and enjoying being somewhere nice in the sunshine, because they don't have any money to do anything else.

Thats right the asylum seekers just sit there doing nothing all day ,living off the taxpayers.what a nice life eh?:hihi:

Originally posted by royjames
[QUOTE][i]
rants.

Thats right the asylum seekers just sit there doing nothing all day ,living off the taxpayers.what a nice life eh?:hihi:

As far as I know they're not allowed to work. Roy, I know your views, and to some extent I might have shared them in the past. You're entitled to your opinion though so we'll just have to agree to disagree. And BTW I'm from a white working class family (which I'm very proud of).

Although I should qualify that all of the people we've met there have been christians, mainly African or Eastern European.

Ok Sally no probs we all have our own views.
Still the peace gardens are very nice,I enjoy going there sometimes.:thumbsup:

Originally posted by SallyLaLaLa
Although I should qualify that all of the people we've met there have been christians, mainly African or Eastern European.

I'm not attacking people of other religions saying that, I'm only pointing it out. For some reason people of certain races/religions aren't that in to gardens but christians are.

Don't know why that is??????????

Originally posted by mr_chris
Last night as I got to my bus stop outside the Peace gardens I noticed a blag carryall just sat by itself on the furthest stone bench (just by the women's toilets). I was suspicious, and was about to phone the police when another man noticed it, and started to ask people if it belonged to them.

Apparently it belonged to dark skinned gentleman who was stood at the bus stop (some thirty feet from his bag). Why he felt the need to leave his bag so far away I don't know, but he went to stand near his bag and I would have left it that.

But no, two community support police officers happened to be walking past, so they other guy who noticed the bag decided to tell them about it. They then went to "talk" to the bag man, and spent the next twenty minutes (or more - my bus actually turned up so I went home) checking some documents and radioing in.

Now, I know paranoia's a wonderful thing, and they were right to make absolutely sure of things, but after the guy had shown them what was in his bag (ie, paper) shouldn't they just have given him a ticking off and told him to be more careful?

Leaving the bag on its own was a truly stupid thing to do though, especially given the events of the last week!


That is stupid, people these days eh :rolleyes:

I don't understand this thing about christians, are you implying that alleged christians can not be terrorists?
I think this non (this time) incident was handled correctly.

Originally posted by OwlsChick
That is stupid, people these days eh :rolleyes:

tell me about it. twice after the bombings i had two people leave cases and bags in open areas!!

Originally posted by matsalleh
I don't understand this thing about christians, are you implying that alleged christians can not be terrorists?
I think this non (this time) incident was handled correctly.

I'm not implying that as my husband is an Irisher an we all know what they got up to..........

I agree the incident was handled correctly. Unfortunately at the moment it is likely terrorists won't be christian, and there is a divide in this country between muslims and non-muslims. I think that both sides are to blame in this, and I also think it's very sad.

Originally posted by royjames
[QUOTE][i]
rants.

My niece loves to go there because she likes paddling and running through the fountains. I admit I might have been a bit bigoted in the past, but not after what we've seen there. Everyone goes on about how awful asylum seekers are, but there are a lot of them in the peace gardens just sitting looking at the fountains and enjoying being somewhere nice in the sunshine, because they don't have any money to do anything else.

Thats right the asylum seekers just sit there doing nothing all day ,living off the taxpayers.what a nice life eh?:hihi:

maybe they were sat there planning bomb attacks and how to steal white women off white males and all the other stereotypes thrown at minorities?
:D

Originally posted by youwhatref
tell me about it. twice after the bombings i had two people leave cases and bags in open areas!!

sadly a large proportion of the general public ARE idiots with no common sense or thought for others.

just look at people making bomb jokes as they go on planes after sept 11th.
and people assulting, petrol bombing sikhs just cos they "look" muslim lol

tbh i never leave my bags unattended EVAH!, mainly cos i dont want it nicked :)

It sounds to me as though they handled the situation perfectly. Why would anyone leave a bag some 30ft from where they are standing? I know people do, but I can't for the life of me think why. Someone could just as easily walk of with it.

Whatever language people speak, they would be hard pressed not to be aware of the bombings in London. I was out of the country with no access to newspapers or television news and I knew all about it.

It seems to me we are all too ready to have a go at the police - either for doing something or for not doing something, they can't win can they?

Originally posted by mr_chris
I was suspicious, and was about to phone the police when another man noticed it, and started to ask people if it belonged to them.

Apparently it belonged to dark skinned gentleman

But what colour was the first man? I notice you didnt mention that. Why then mention the colour of the bag owner? Does it matter as you were suspicious even before you knew the colour of his skin?