6 ms·

> The suggestion there may not have been any drones at Gatwick Airport was a "miscommunication by police", a government source has told the BBC. > During a con

> The suggestion there may not have been any drones at Gatwick Airport was a "miscommunication by police", a government source has told the BBC. > During a conference call between ministers, chaired by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, it was agreed the 67 drone sightings were legitimate. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-46670714 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-46670714) As much as "it was all a false alarm" would make a killer headline (and clearly has, even in speculation), it doesn't seem that anyone actually believes that. Just a poor choice of works.

wrinkl3 8y ago
Yes, whoever provided that particular soundbite really shouldn't be in charge of public communication.
chrisseaton 8y ago
The Police in the UK often say the most ludicrous things in statements, and the basic public speaking skills of the people they choose to put out is often very limited. They always look like they're caught in the headlights while trying to sweatily stumble through reading some words off a page. I'm not sure what institutionally causes this, but it must be something causing it as it's always the same. Remember when recently a senior Police officer in a statement just decided to call some extremely serious allegations they were looking into 'true' as if they had already had the trial and preempting the whole judicial process? I can't understand how you can accidentally 'misspeak' like that.
- C1sc0cat 8y ago
  They don't hire the brightest - recently I heard a former senior ex met natsec policeman who presented as very very stupid individual I would not trust to investigate a missing kitten. There was also the scandal where a v senior copper on the Cyber side was found cheating.
  - tantalor 8y ago
    Cheating? At what?
    - C1sc0cat 8y ago
      Exam to join the Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU), https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/19/pceu_tribunal/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/19/pceu_tribunal/
  - bgeeek 8y ago
    To be fair, and I've come across this so many times, you can be good at your job and still have awful presentation skills. I don't think we get taught things like this in the UK and/or get practise in it, unlike other countries.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - ComputerGuru 8y ago
    In the USA, courts ruled it was legal for police departments to discriminate based on intellect and refuse to higher persons with high IQs. They hire less smart people on purpose because they tend to question orders less and do what they are told more (their words, not mine).
    - hodgesrm 8y ago
      You should cite a source for that. Where I live the cops are pretty on the ball. I recall one of them casually correcting my math on work-related problem when he was taking a report from me on another topic.
      - paganel 8y ago
        Where I live (Eastern Europe) the policemen are generally known as not being the brightest, there are countless jokes made about their intellect (or lack thereof) and propensity to generally follow orders without giving it a second thought. I've just checked and it seems that even the related Wikipedia [1] page has a section on this: > Policemen: Most Romanian people are not fond of the law enforcement institutions and try to avoid contact with constables. Romanian public opinion about policemen says that they are primitive, uneducated and totally corrupt. Some of these police jokes belong to the absurd genre. Q: How do you choose a stupid policeman from a group of policemen? A: At random. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_humour#Stereotypes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_humour#Stereotypes
- Scoundreller 8y ago
  Consider the alternative: A lot of Canadian police forces have “media relations officers”. IE: armed PR personnel that manage the media. Even our highway patrol has one. I imagine him racing from accident to accident, lights and sirens, to give/record spoon-fed media updates. I’d imagine there would be swift discipline if a front-line officer were to give an unvetted off-the-cuff media interview.
pj_mukh 8y ago
I think it's important we find out exactly how to quickly detect and stop these from happening next time. However, there's been 67 legitimate sightings and no pictures, videos? Not even grainy, badly zoomed video? Can the control tower see these using a simple set of binoculars?
- DanBC 8y ago
  Press reports that the drone operators were flying close to the control tower and flashing lights at the control tower. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/police-prepared-shoot-down-drone-050315343.html https://uk.news.yahoo.com/police-prepared-shoot-down-drone-0... > Detectives were understood to have drawn up a shortlist of potential culprits after the pilot gave vital clues away by audaciously flying the drone right up to the air traffic control tower. > In a move known as "buzzing the tower", it emerged the perpetrator had taunted airport staff by circling the drone around the building and flashing its lights, an industry source told The Daily Telegraph.
kurthr 8y ago
Yeah, considering they found a damaged drone near Gatwick airport... it is strangely possible with 67 witnesses that there is no video "proof", but unlikely there were no drones. On the other hand, I won't be surprised if the couple that were released use the fairly strong libel laws to punish early press shaming.
- pjc50 8y ago
  No legal aid for libel, so unless they're willing to take out another mortgage they're unlikely to get started there.

wrinkl3 8y ago

Yes, whoever provided that particular soundbite really shouldn't be in charge of public communication.

chrisseaton 8y ago

The Police in the UK often say the most ludicrous things in statements, and the basic public speaking skills of the people they choose to put out is often very limited. They always look like they're caught in the headlights while trying to sweatily stumble through reading some words off a page. I'm not sure what institutionally causes this, but it must be something causing it as it's always the same. Remember when recently a senior Police officer in a statement just decided to call some extremely serious allegations they were looking into 'true' as if they had already had the trial and preempting the whole judicial process? I can't understand how you can accidentally 'misspeak' like that.

C1sc0cat 8y ago
They don't hire the brightest - recently I heard a former senior ex met natsec policeman who presented as very very stupid individual I would not trust to investigate a missing kitten. There was also the scandal where a v senior copper on the Cyber side was found cheating.
- tantalor 8y ago
  Cheating? At what?
  - C1sc0cat 8y ago
    Exam to join the Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU), https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/19/pceu_tribunal/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/19/pceu_tribunal/
- bgeeek 8y ago
  To be fair, and I've come across this so many times, you can be good at your job and still have awful presentation skills. I don't think we get taught things like this in the UK and/or get practise in it, unlike other countries.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- ComputerGuru 8y ago
  In the USA, courts ruled it was legal for police departments to discriminate based on intellect and refuse to higher persons with high IQs. They hire less smart people on purpose because they tend to question orders less and do what they are told more (their words, not mine).
  - hodgesrm 8y ago
    You should cite a source for that. Where I live the cops are pretty on the ball. I recall one of them casually correcting my math on work-related problem when he was taking a report from me on another topic.
    - paganel 8y ago
      Where I live (Eastern Europe) the policemen are generally known as not being the brightest, there are countless jokes made about their intellect (or lack thereof) and propensity to generally follow orders without giving it a second thought. I've just checked and it seems that even the related Wikipedia [1] page has a section on this: > Policemen: Most Romanian people are not fond of the law enforcement institutions and try to avoid contact with constables. Romanian public opinion about policemen says that they are primitive, uneducated and totally corrupt. Some of these police jokes belong to the absurd genre. Q: How do you choose a stupid policeman from a group of policemen? A: At random. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_humour#Stereotypes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_humour#Stereotypes
Scoundreller 8y ago
Consider the alternative: A lot of Canadian police forces have “media relations officers”. IE: armed PR personnel that manage the media. Even our highway patrol has one. I imagine him racing from accident to accident, lights and sirens, to give/record spoon-fed media updates. I’d imagine there would be swift discipline if a front-line officer were to give an unvetted off-the-cuff media interview.

pj_mukh 8y ago

I think it's important we find out exactly how to quickly detect and stop these from happening next time. However, there's been 67 legitimate sightings and no pictures, videos? Not even grainy, badly zoomed video? Can the control tower see these using a simple set of binoculars?

DanBC 8y ago
Press reports that the drone operators were flying close to the control tower and flashing lights at the control tower. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/police-prepared-shoot-down-drone-050315343.html https://uk.news.yahoo.com/police-prepared-shoot-down-drone-0... > Detectives were understood to have drawn up a shortlist of potential culprits after the pilot gave vital clues away by audaciously flying the drone right up to the air traffic control tower. > In a move known as "buzzing the tower", it emerged the perpetrator had taunted airport staff by circling the drone around the building and flashing its lights, an industry source told The Daily Telegraph.

kurthr 8y ago

Yeah, considering they found a damaged drone near Gatwick airport... it is strangely possible with 67 witnesses that there is no video "proof", but unlikely there were no drones. On the other hand, I won't be surprised if the couple that were released use the fairly strong libel laws to punish early press shaming.

pjc50 8y ago
No legal aid for libel, so unless they're willing to take out another mortgage they're unlikely to get started there.