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A comment on London Metropolitan Police admits role in blacklisting construction workers. Parent comment

Re:London Metropolitan Police admits role in blacklisting co... by cogs on Friday March 23, 2018 @09:47AM (#16658039)
Oh, and my original title made clear, although the BBC title which HN has now imposed did not: this was done by Special Branch.

Special Branch are the police arm of the UK domestic security services, not the kind of neighbourhood police implied by the name "Metropolitan Police"

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Re:London Metropolitan Police admits role in blacklisting co... by OJFord on Friday March 23, 2018 @11:50AM (#16659297)
> not the kind of neighbourhood police implied by the name "Metropolitan Police"

Where 'neighbourhood' is the largest and capital city, and 'police' is the largest force in the country.

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Re:London Metropolitan Police admits role in blacklisting co... by Bartweiss on Friday March 23, 2018 @12:47PM (#16660003)
Largest, capital, and most surveilled! I know Europeans often talk about discomfort with US police - their prevalence and armament, mostly - but London in turn never ceases to shock me with the sheer density of cameras. The Metropolitan Police have never felt even a bit 'neighborhood' to me.
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Re:London Metropolitan Police admits role in blacklisting co... by PaulKeeble on Friday March 23, 2018 @12:54PM (#16660091)
Considering some of them seem to patrol tube stations at rush hour with MP5 sub machine guns they aren't exactly warm and cuddly friendly police either.

Fact is in a busy station on a morning even if you knew someone was a terrorist and could see him you couldn't actually shoot him without gunning down about 30 civilians between you and the bad guy. An MP5's on display is a show of force against the populace not a reassuring sign of protection.

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Re:London Metropolitan Police admits role in blacklisting co... by stordoff on Friday March 23, 2018 @06:36PM (#16663224)
> Fact is in a busy station on a morning even if you knew someone was a terrorist and could see him you couldn't actually shoot him without gunning down about 30 civilians between you and the bad guy.

The Met use the MP5SF (Single-fire) variant (routinely anyway - I'd imagine they have access to other weapons for specific situations), so it isn't necessarily accurate to refer to it as an SMG. It'd take serious misuse of such a weapon to end up gunning down 30 civilians.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/oct/28/met-armed-police-...

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