Gizmodo
This many, apparently. This was the scene in North London yesterday afternoon, as 600 cops in scary riot gear marched up a suburban street on their way to knock some thievin' heads together.
The boys in blue made a beeline for 19 businesses situated on the Blackstock Road, a crime hotspot that, coincidentally or not, is just round the corner from the mosque where extremist preacher Abu Hamza used to preach from. Premises raided included a butcher's shop, internet cafe and greengrocer's.
The raid was not just about cellphones, however—although T-Mobile claims that 40 percent of its stolen phones go on to be used in the Blackstock Road area. Some of the other charges leveled against the suspects include drug dealing, money laundering and selling fake documents.
And the reason for 600 woodentops? Well, a bit like the Kaiser Chiefs, officers predicted a riot, so they sent an entire regiment of men down there. Seventy men were arrested, 300 stolen mobiles recovered, as well as (deep breath) 120 laptops, 110 cameras, 32 iPods and 20 satnavs. Oh, and 47 forged passports and driving licenses. I heart London. [Daily Mail]
Comments
I bet its a good place to get a curry....
(j/p)
QUICK!! Someone photoshop a Dunkin Donuts at the end of the street!
wow that is one major sausage feast.....
good luck crooks in trying to out run 600 police officers ^___^!
5....GOLD.....RINGS!!
@TheCapt: ROFL
I thought it was the RIAA sending in the troops at first.
@TheCapt: They're Brits. Fish and Chips, maybe Tea and Scones. Not D&D. D&D couldn't survive in the UK, as you can't burn tea like they burn coffee.
We could make more jokes about it if only they had 300.
This calls for a caption competition!
Are they pretending to be members of the Verizon network?
@LittleJon: Seconded.
Can you hear me now?
Blu-Ray has stumbled upon an unprecedented way to advertise their campaign
@Git Em SteveDave: DD did indeed fail in London. They had locations that ended up closing.
Starbucks does a brisk business throughout London, though. Mmm... triple espresso.
"Don't taze me Bro's"
"The brits go marching 6 by 6.. hurRAH, hurRAH..."
"The Rainbow Coalition meets their match... The Blue Ball Coalition"
"The Dark Helmet drones are on the way sir!"
I thought they were auditioning for the blueman group. Maybe this is filming for Matrix 4 and these are all of the Agent "Smythes".
"Hello Neo"
The London Marathon is gettin freaky these days
Some poor kid smoking a joint in an ally up the street, paranoid to the gills, pokes his head out one last time to make sure the coast was clear...
OH SHIT. THEY FOUND ME!
I would have started handing them all jaywalking tickets...
according to the backs of the helmets some are from the Quick Kill force, others from the God Damn force... I think.
@nutbastard: Jaywalking's not illegal in the UK.
I know you were joking anyway, but I just had to say that!
it all started in a little toy shop buying a bag of balloons with the money we got...
[i26.tinypic.com]
Hmmmm, there's a few places in DC where that kind of thing could be a good thing.
So they predicted a riot and sent a whole regiment. Nice show of force.
That said, sucks for those 3 guys in the back - looks like they didn't have a whole regiment of bulletproof vests...
I think here in Philly, the cops would be outnumbered! LOL.
@aznplayer213: TSFU!
To be fair, the bobbys in England dont carry guns, so you need like 10x as many of them.
Do they get to have guns?
@discounteggroll: 99 Luft Red Balloons?
@alienhead: It's England, where when you play bobbies and nickers, you say "Club Club, you're bruised" as opposed to us who say "Bang, Bang, you're dead".
Well it depends where in London you go mate, times are changing.... But I have to say my favorite show is "The Bill"
@archercc:
Also a great place for "Bangers & Mash" as well as fish and chips with mashed peas.
If you like fish & chips with you're green baby food. Or if you're a Brit.
@JacquesAss: Nice catch, I didn't see it until I went back and looked at the photo again. Either they are probationary (i.e. newbies) or just didn't get in line fast enough, which isn't bad as they will likely stay in the back if they aren't "quick." I can't imagine looking out my window and seeing something like that.
Raiding a Muslim area. Won't see that in any stories though.
They need all the cops.
@scarbrtj: And it looks like there's a couple on the left from the Young and the Restless force.
If I'm collecting the electronic equipment necessary for a large-scale drug/money-laundering/false document, criminal enterprise, which of these things is not like the others:
300 cellphones
120 laptops
110 cameras
20 satnavs
47 forged passports and driving licenses
32 iPods
I mean what, were they pre-loading instructions on the iPods? Or they just liked to kick it while making their plans? Or did 32 lucky cops just get an early Christmas present?
But, there is no way you can perpetrate that amount of carnage and mayhem and not incur a considerable amount of paperwork.
"We have the building surrounded....
No, quite literally, there is no place that you can go through to."
Remember remember the 28th of Ma..Wait that sounds awkward.
@nutbastard:
"Some poor kid smoking a joint in an ally up the street, paranoid to the gills, pokes his head out one last time to make sure the coast was clear..."
Rule No. 1 - PAY your help well and NEVER let your "lookout" smoke up on the job.
Just HTF did 600 Big Booted Bobbies in Bloody Riot Gear sneak-up on these stupid assholes anyway?!
Ok so they made themselves look bad-ass rolling in 600 deep - but really, how could they have let the situation get that bad in the first place?
@ANoel:
I think you answered your own question there ANoel.....
".......stupid assholes.."
I agree with OtterKing. Why in the hell did they not do something earlier?
They're stab vests, not bullet proof vests.
@TheCapt: LMFAO!!!!!!!!!
@aznplayer213: True i'd be scared out of my mind if 600 cops came in after 70 men.
They did make a major crime bust tho. Thats a lot of money in electronics and not to mention 70 men is the equivalent of 35 jail cells. (if jail cells house only 2 inmates like on movies, etc.)
@OtterKing: One of my professors, who specialized in suicide terrorism (well, the study of), once mentioned that the UK's anti-terrorism efforts in recent years have tended to focus on long-term surveillance. An individual threat could certainly be arrested, but if there's no pressing danger, why not follow him? Over the span of a few months, he's bound to drop clues and reveal contacts, giving the cops an entire network to go after.
Not that that's necessarily the case here, but it's a possible explanation.
@Git Em SteveDave: we've got plenty of krispy kreme however!! :)
UK is going to hell in a handbasket and they NEED to do this sort of stepping up or risk becoming 3rd world, or at least have a few secessions on their hands.
reminds me of scene near end on Blue Brothers movie with all the SWAT members charging up through the halls, up the stairs and repelling down from roof, chanting, "hut, hut, hut"
Honestly though sometimes, just like in RISK, it is more entertaining to deploy all your troops, to overcome the enemy when a couple would do as well.
before we all laugh at this think of this..... in the UK your more likely to get jail for a speeding offence than a burglary...just today two convicted terrorists were released from jail due to over crowding
So far a teenager has been murderd on Londons streets every week of this year
Yes its called Great Britain
Oh and health care has to be fought for
OK, just because it was too funny, especially considering I have no photochop skills at all....
[i29.tinypic.com]
and
[i30.tinypic.com]
@ANoel: They walked on their tip toes, and whenever anyone looked at them, they put their finger to their lips and went "shhhhhhh".
After watching the first season of "Shameless" I think I understand why they needed so many bobbies.
@DeadWriter:
HA!
@Git Em SteveDave:
Ya man... just like Guy Ritchie told them to do....
Was this an attempt on most number of "Don't taze me BRO!" at the same time for Guinness Records?
You do realise that forty percent of all phones stolen in London were being used in that street?
Oh them? That's my network! waitaminnute damnit it's not! RUN COPS!
OMG VERIZON COMMERCIAL GONE BAD