Bradford police murder

[ecoman]

At long last the BBC has actually reported that they are looking for an Asian man and two black men in connection with this attack, why could they not have told us this yesterday, yes they knew, they had descriptions, at least the people in the area would have known who to look out for, what is with the BBC that they will do their utmost to protect the minorities.

[january_bug]

WHAT?!?! Are you insane?!

This information was released in a press conference this morning!!!! It's the POLICE that did not reveal the information until now, not the BBC.

This is a tragic incident, but the BBC is not to blame.

What do you have against minorities anyway?!

[sp1814]

Ecoman

One other point, the crime happened in the centre of Bradford where there's a large black and Asian community.

I absolutely agree that descriptions should be released as soon as possible - the chances of the police making an arrest are much greater in the first few hours after a serious crime is committed.

I honestly don't believe the police would be so stupid as to withold vital information, simply to assuage the feelings of the local community, whom I hear are as shocked and sickened by the crime as the rest of the country.

[THECORBYLOON]

For God's sake why do some folk see ulterior motives in this? Do you not think if the police could release the information earlier they would not have done so? Why blame the BBC? It is often the case that information is generally known or at least believed to be correct but what if it had been wrong and the BBC gave out descriptions based upon unofficial information and hearsay?

Folk have been arrested in connexion wi the shootings so it may be that the police had their reasons for withholing the descriptions until thay did.

[sp1814]

Just realised that I left something out of my last post...what I meant was that Bradford has a large black and Asian community, therefore, saying that they're looking for an Asian and two black men, is rather like say that they're looking for three white pensioners after a crime spree in Eastbourne.

[january_bug]

sp1814 - teehee! Nice analogy!!

On another point... how long before someone blames Blair!?!

[ecoman]

What do you have against minorities anyway?!

I speak my mind and say what 90% of the population are frightened to say

[january_bug]

Which is what?!

[sp1814]

January_bug...Yeah, I went to Eastbourne on a course a few years back. Loads of suspicious-looking old ladies hanging out by the Post Office. Terrifying place.

ecoman - I wholly understand why you must feel frustrated. I myself am furious that I've just wasted the afternoon watching Spider II (big pile of poo). However, if 90% of the country do share your view, as a black man, it would worry the hell out of me.

Once a section of the community feels that another section of the community is getting special privileges, then all hell breaks loose. However, I honestly don't think that there were any ulterior motives behind the actions over the past 24 hours. One of their own was murdered - they're going to do their utmost to secure a conviction.

[january_bug]

econman - what is it that 90% of the population is too afraid to say?! I'm interested to hear what you're going to say!

[undercovers]

ME TOO - tell us what we are thinking and I shall do a quick poll in chatterbank to see if you are right

[kags]

I agree with what has been said above. This is not a racial matter just because the killers are black and Asian. They didn't carry out the race because of their skin colour, they did it because they were violent criminals. There is no reason to turn this into an issue about race, the police and the BBC both know full well that no "minorities" would be offended by a factual description, and therefore there would be no political reason to withhold this information.

[january_bug]

ecoman - we are still waiting for you to speak out on behalf of a majority of your fellow countrymen.

Oh, and I'm guessing you think you speak on behalf of all white people, so why not up it to 92%!?! here

[vehelpfulguy]

Someone says: They didn't carry out the crime because of their skin solour, they did it because they were voilent criminals.

Someone else put a link to the ethnic break down of UK population.

Interesting that link shows the black population is only 2% of the UK population, but did you know that of the UK prison population 11% are black.

So, they did not carry out the crime because of their skin colour, but an black skin colour does show a greater propensity to crime.

After all the statistics prove that.

[Drusilla]

The statistics might show a greater likelihood of being convicted of a crime if you are black, but also show that 89% of prisoners are not black.

[january_bug]

Indeed Drusilla, and I'll bet that greater than 11% of stop and searches are on black people, yet only 11% of the prison population is black.

I think this goes to show that statistics can be used to proove pretty much any point you like.

However, they are not helping us to discover what it is that ecoman wants to say on behalf of 53.82million people (or at least that he believes 53.82 million people to be thinking).

[Alan2]

I'm with ecoman on this one, the majority of high profile people on tv (newsreaders, politicians etc) are frightened to death of even saying the word "black" when a crime has been committed, for fear of upsetting the minorities.

[january_bug]

Alan2 - but have you seen the facts? The police didn't release the info til 10am this morning. So it wasn't the BBC being "afraid". And don't be daft, newsreaders might be intelligent people be they read an autocue - their fears have nothing to do with it.

Or are you suggesting that a load of non-white people would lynch a newsreader if (s)he suggested a non-white person had committed a crime, and so that's what newsreaders are scared of. I haven't seen Trevor MacDonald being scared of being black, or saying the word black. Has anyone else?!

[kags]

exactly january-bug - the word black is not offensive if it used as a descriptive term and nobody who understands this ever shies away from using the word. In my experience, the people who shy away from using it are those who fear they will reveal their own prejudices.

[sp1814]

vehelpfulguy

I've had to re-write this posting a couple of times, because your remarks are so offensive that they really got my back up.

I'm black, and for you to say that I am more likely to commit a crime than someone my own age, and from my own economic and educational background is offensive. I'll go on to explain this...

Crime statistics which are broken down in by ethnicity demographics are misleading. You also have to take into account family history, location and economics. The black community generally live in poorer areas and there have been a number of studies over the years which link social deprivation to higher crime statistics.

You should also consider why first time offenders are much more likely to be given custodial sentence for a first offence, if they are black, than if they are white.

On a positive note, I'm glad you brought up the point - I think it adds to the debate, even if the logic is flawed.

[Andy008]

I blame Tony Blair.