In Britain, only the criminals are armed. A doorman writes about how this affects his work.
I’ve spent more than a decade working as a nightclub doorman. I’ve been involved in hundreds of violent incidents, including many away from the club. I can state unequivocally that in situations where some of these punks decide they’re going to pick on myself, or someone with me, with the intention of stealing our property, terrorising us or just for shits and giggles, on the occasions I’ve been armed, the situation has suddenly resolved itself when I produce a weapon. It’s true that the people who come after you with weapons are cowardly fucks, so much so that even when they massively outnumber you, if you present a viable weapon they are unwilling to take the risk of even one of them being hospitalised. Predatory criminals prey upon people they perceive as weak. There is a massive fucking difference – not recognised in law – between carrying a weapon and initiating force or aggression with it and carrying a concealed weapon purely for defence of yourself and others.
The way the attitudes to and laws regarding self-defence in this country work do everything to disempower and terrorise the ordinary citizen, whilst maximising the power that the wannabe gangster fuckwads then have over them.
I’ve also had dozens of very negative experiences with the police in this regard – when as the default monopoly on force, they have been called to deal with an incident involving armed shits and, either failed to turn up (even though we know they have units in the area), turn up and watch from a distance and – in several cases, turn up, watch what happens, then come and harass us (the door team). I can’t express in words the frustration and anger this has led to in the past and I’m willing to go on record with most of this, along with many other lads who can share similar experiences with you. In many cases the police actually facilitate the operation of these gangs, not defend people against them.
Unfortunately the media is often complicit in keeping this kind of thing off of the radar. Here’s a recent example: Reporting in the Sheffield Star on a murder in a Sheffield nightclub last weekend. The story mentions “Two other men, both in their 20s, were also injured. One worked at the club and he was treated in hospital for a cut to the stomach and later released.” Those “two other men” were doormen who were trying to save Brett, who was killed, they were among four doormen at the venue who all received stab / knife wounds as a result of trying to save the victim (n.b. batons – if they had them- could have foiled at least some of the attacks). The lad with the stomach wound is in fact still in hospital.
Here’s the absolute nugget of gold though, the article finishes: “”We are still trying to find out exactly what happened, the club was busy at the time and we’re appealing for anyone with information to come forward,” a Police spokesman said.”. Here’s something else the article fails to mention: Two of the wounded doormen came out of the nightclub covered in blood, there were at this point already lots of police officers outside the building. One of the lads demanded that the police go in to stop more people getting hurt and arrest the people involved. The police refused. The doorlad then said “you’re all fucking useless”. They then arrested him for a public order offence. Meanwhile the knife attacker somehow managed to escape the building.
This isn’t a one off incident. This is part of a recurring pattern with police (and “gang” behaviour). Don’t get me wrong. The police aren’t always like this and there’s no way I’m of the ACAB disposition. However, it is a regular occurrence, especially when it is a major violent incident – somehow the police consistently seem unable to get involved or even turn up at the most serious altercations. The least violent offences are punished vigourously, whilst the most violent appear to be given free rein.
– Posted by a doorman on a private forum.
This would be a good post for one small problem: it’s not clear (to me) when the doorman’s words end and your’s start.
Also: where did these words come from? That’s not clear either.
Sorry to be a pain.
No problem, Patrick, sorry it’s not clear. Everything here is copied and pasted from a private forum and posted here with permission, and with no additional comment from me. Update: I added a note at the end that hopefully clarifies.
Ta, although I still think that the doorman’s words should be in quotes.
This sounds familiar. I witnessed similar situations during the 8 years I worked as a doorman. I have had police stand and watch me and another doorman get attacked by a mob armed with scaffolding poles, been threatened with arrest for holding down a young lad who tried to stab me with a knife and seen the police deliberately allow a gang to escape after they saw them beat up two young lads.
The police are not interested in preventing crime like that – their business is the recording of crime and making arrests. If they can arrest someone without breaking a sweat or running the risk of having to get physical with someone who may fight back then why would they bother with the difficult stuff?
I worked door at various clubs and bars in NY and L.A., and can attest that confronting the people who start fights ends the fights quickly. Predators don’t like to fight, they like to pounce.
A major difference in what I’ve seen v. your correspondent is that in the States, the police (and firemen and even paramedics) are happy to jump into a situation, and my co-workers and I all did our best to keep the fuzz on our side.
I’ve watched cops jump into semi-riots with chairs flying past their heads, and been called to a scene to help by an officer that recognized me from work.
While it may be a cultural difference, I have never seen cops on this side of the pond shy way from or neglect to get involved in a violent situation, with a primary purpose of starting the wheels of justice working upon the ‘alleged’ criminals immediately.
@dan:
While it may be a cultural difference, I have never seen cops on this side of the pond shy way from or neglect to get involved in a violent situation, with a primary purpose of starting the wheels of justice working upon the ‘alleged’ criminals immediately.
Nice thought, but what about Columbine, VA Tech, etc.? We have plenty of incidents over here where cops will choose the path of least risk. I remember watching in San Francisco a police officer harrassing a mexican ice cream vendor about his permits and his lack of English speaking skills, while all around us were drug dealers practicing their craft.
That is sadly typical of San Francisco police, in my experience of them. Usually polite, but not that interested in taking risk.