In a recent post, I discussed a Spiked article by Josie Appleton which included the following quote:
“Police in Weston-super-Mare have been shining bright halogen lights from helicopters on to youths gathered in parks and other public places. The light temporarily blinds them, and is intended to ‘move them on’, in the words of one Weston police officer.”
A friend, reading this, simply uttered a single word: “Mirror”.
What’d happen then? Is the risk of a blinded pilot and a crashed helicopter really worth it?
Or perhaps it’s the state, and by extension Avon & Somerset Police (in this case), who are the real blind pilots, attempting to ‘guide’ society in this way? If not blind, they’re certainly short-sighted.
I hope these teens are on foot. How are you supposed to drive off if you’ve been temporarily blinded?
[...] We’ve got Avon & Somerset Police using helicopters with high-intensity floodlights to “blind groups of teenagers temporarily” and councils using tax-payers’ money to install devices to cause deliberate auditory pain to a percentage of the population, again, whether or not they have committed a crime. Anyone would think that those in power despised their public. Perhaps they do. [...]