Email Xeno
Follow(Twitter)
Subscribe
Thanks
Taser left on police vehicle roof in Lambeth is lost
Posted by Xeno on December 8, 2010
A Metropolitan Police firearms officer is under investigation after a Taser was lost when he drove off with it still on the roof of a police vehicle.
The weapon was left on top of the vehicle as the officer left a briefing at a force firearms base in Norfolk Row, Lambeth, between 0700 GMT and 0830 GMT on Tuesday.
Officers said the stun gun and four cartridges were left on the roof.
Police realised it was missing at about 1000 GMT.
The Taser is believed to have fallen off somewhere between Norfolk Row and Vauxhall Cross, where the officer had stopped to refuel.
Scotland Yard said the officer concerned had been taken off operational firearms duties.
A spokesperson said the Directorate of Professional Standards had been informed and an internal investigation was under way.
Police urged anyone who found the Taser, which is shaped like a handgun but made from bright yellow plastic, not to touch it but to contact the force. …
via BBC News – Taser left on police vehicle roof in Lambeth is lost.
Ann said
“… on the roof of a police vehicle …” And, just recently there was a story about a Brit who lost his entire life savings, because he left on the roof of his car as he drove off. Hmmm … . You know, of course, when events like this hit the media, there are probably many other similar stories that haven’t reached the public. Hmmm …
Is carelessness becoming widespread? After all, both published events occurred within certain geographic-cultural boundaries. Or, is this the first signs of an epidemic of a mental disorder? And, does this yet-to-be-discovered disease somehow affect our short-term memory? Maybe this epidemic is the consequences of a secretive government operation to make Brits forget their past? And, one of the unpredicted side effects of that operation is short-term memory loss. Or, maybe these similar stories are merely synchronous events on a large social scale (than those proposed by Carl Jung) that have no normal, everyday explanation? No, I wouldn’t say they’re merely random chance events that happen to coincide within a certain time. Occam’s razor doesn’t work into this discussion. I personally think these events are caused by gremlins and these rare but quite annoying creatures have merely changed their tactics.
Xeno said
Brain damage from cell phones.
Cheng said
Blimey! No wonder the US is the Conspiracy Theory Capital of the world. 2 reported cases of absent mindedness and the government’s immediately implicated in devious operations.
Dang! You distracted me then. I came in here to do something and now it’s gone right out of my head.
Ann said
Ok, I’m forced to revise my original hypothesis, given new input from Xeno and Cheng. But, first note the following:
Joe Keohane wrote an interesting article based on the latest body of research on how the human brain works: “How facts backfire: Researchers discover a surprising threat to democracy: our brains” (Boston Globe, July 11, 2010).
We’d like to think, Keohane writes, that people monitor their formulated ideas, theories or hypotheses from information they receive from the everyday world. However, to do that requires time and effort. Normally we just don’t have the time or energy. So, according to researchers, “Our brains are designed to create cognitive shortcuts — inference, intuition, and so forth — to avoid precisely that sort of discomfort while coping with the rush of information we receive on a daily basis.”
And, the more “sophisticated thinkers were even less open to new information than less sophisticated types.”
“… people will actually update their beliefs if you hit them ‘between the eyes’ with bluntly presented, objective facts that contradict their preconceived ideas.”
Although I consider myself, as probably most people, a “sophisticated thinker,” I’ll nonetheless completely and thoroughly revise my original hypothesis: Gremlins are somehow in some only gremlin-known way, making people use their mobile phones more often. And, it’s the use of mobile phones that is causing the short-term memory loss.
[Keohane’s piece is here:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/
Cheng said
“… people will actually update their beliefs if you hit them ‘between the eyes’ with bluntly presented, objective facts that contradict their preconceived ideas.”
It’s true! I carry a baseball bat around with me now, for those quiet times when someone’s annoying ring tone shatters the tranquility. People seem to update their beliefs pretty damn quick. I call my faithful friend “Gremlin”.
Pyrodin said
I think your righton Xeno, cell phones, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a strong magnetic field can alter a person’s sense of morality.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1262074/Scientists-discover-moral-compass-brain-controlled-magnets.html
Cell phones do not emit the same kind of magnetic field and its not as as powerfull but cell phones are pressed right against peoples heads most of the time. Who knows, I stopped using them a long time ago because they are annoying little tracking devices that distract me, not to mention the whole brain cancer thing.
BTW-Cellphones are made by GREMLINS!
Peace