What lessons from the riots so far ?

[bulldogeagle]

i think one thing has come out of these riots-if you think the Police are coming to help you, its been seen this last week that they wont be, your on your own, so you'd better be prepped, with a BOB and a back route out of your area.

[Triple_sod]

i think one thing has come out of these riots-if you think the Police are coming to help you, its been seen this last week that they wont be, your on your own, so you'd better be prepped, with a BOB and a back route out of your area.

Defiantly,

To be fair I think a lot of people overestimate what the police can do to restore order in certain situation. Obviously at the time there was a big thing about ‘sending in the water cannons’, and perhaps they’d have got things under control much earlier, but it’d still have been bad.

[Carrot Cruncher]

i think one thing has come out of these riots-if you think the Police are coming to help you, its been seen this last week that they wont be, your on your own, so you'd better be prepped, with a BOB and a back route out of your area.

Defiantly,

To be fair I think a lot of people overestimate what the police can do to restore order in certain situation. Obviously at the time there was a big thing about ‘sending in the water cannons’, and perhaps they’d have got things under control much earlier, but it’d still have been bad.

Not just the Police either, the fire brigade and Ambulance service will only get to you if it's safe to do so and/or if they have Police protection. There were instances of buildings left to burn and patients having to wait for Ambulances during the riots.

[Red Doe]

Not just the Police either, the fire brigade and Ambulance service will only get to you if it's safe to do so and/or if they have Police protection. There were instances of buildings left to burn and patients having to wait for Ambulances during the riots.

That's not just a riot situation. I have friends in a rough area in Glasgow who say the fire or ambulance will often not even bother coming out to certain areas without a police escort and if it's between certain hours in the night, won't even bother turning up at all!

[Brambling01]

Not just the Police either, the fire brigade and Ambulance service will only get to you if it's safe to do so and/or if they have Police protection. There were instances of buildings left to burn and patients having to wait for Ambulances during the riots.

That's not just a riot situation. I have friends in a rough area in Glasgow who say the fire or ambulance will often not even bother coming out to certain areas without a police escort and if it's between certain hours in the night, won't even bother turning up at all!

I have to defend the Emergency services here. The Fire and Ambulance Services are not trained to defend themselves in a riot situation and the crews are small. Not only that, can you be aware of the situation changes around you whilst tackling a blaze or treating a patient?
I used to work for the Ambulance Service. There were'no go' areas in the town, This came about after one Crew was lured into that area with a 999 call, they reached the address, got out and were badly beaten. The Ambulance was ransacked and drugs and equipment stolen or destroyed. Fire Crews were also attacked in the same area. So yep, no way did crews go in without a Police escort. Rightly so IMO.

[Carrot Cruncher]

It wasn't a critisism on my part Brambling, just an observation. If it's like that in "normal" times it would be a lot worse in times of trouble like the riots.

[buttystella]

I dont know much about the water pressure availability for fire fighting in London when there are a number of fires in close proximity to each other but from watching the fire fighting on tv, it looked pretty feeble. We as preppers need to be aware that shtf situation the FB will only have a limited ability to contain fires.

[preservefreak]

the riots were a bigger wake up call for me than expected. While nothing happened in Sheffield it so easily could of and I wasn't properly prepared for it. For the rest of the year I need to finish our bug out bags, find a better BOL and plant some caches on route to it. I've gotten far too distracted with food storages (though that said my cheese wax arrived before the weekend) and need to work harder at being able to get out when needed.

PF

[itsybitsy]

I would only bug out in an EXTREME emergency in a riot situation, i.e. if the looters were ransacking houses instead of shops, or if fire was licking at my neighbours house! Or if I was told to go by the police or other emergency services.

[Brambling01]

No probs CC. No harm no foul

It is a difficult decision to make, whether to stay or go. I suppose it depends very much on your location and mobility. Where I live at the moment, I'm more likely to be invaded by a Herd of Cows, or have the house destroyed by a runaway Tractor than Rioters, so I'd do an Itsy