A mum has described the "traumatising" experience of armed officers being
called to a beach she was on in Cornwall after someone mistook her black
partner's water pistol for a gun.

Flo Finch was on holiday with her partner and children on 28 July when she
says police with guns "cornered" them on Godrevy Beach.

Devon and Cornwall Police say they were called by another beachgoer who
reported there was a man armed with a gun.

Flo, who is originally from Cornwall but was making a trip to the county
from her current home in Essex, said she does not blame the police for
their response to the call, but described the caller as "outright racist",
because her partner Kieran is black.

She claims the caller "jumped to conclusion" because of the colour of his
skin.

Posting about the incident on her TikTok, Flo said her family was
"triggered" and "traumatised" by the experience.

"Armed police with real life guns came to the beach and cornered us because
of a water gun," she said.

"Who on earth owns a bright blue and pink gun and who would be walking
around with it on a beach? It’s a water gun. I’m so triggered as well. It’s
so traumatising."

Flo added that she doesn't intend to "knock" the police and felt they were
"kind" and "empathetic" in how they dealt with the incident.

But some general public person sat there and called the policed for a water
gun just to traumatise our kids and to traumatise me", she said.

“He’s back he’s safe and he’s fine but at the end of the day my kids are
sitting there crying saying ‘is he going to killed mummy?'

"There’s no rhyme or reason to it except the fact they saw a black man on
the beach in Cornwall and they didn’t like it," she continued.

"The fact the callers are allowing police officers to come fully armed with
massive loaded guns on a beach with kids is inexcusable.

"It was outright racism and it breaks my heart", she said.

Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed they attended the scene as "high
priority", however, they said the man explained to officers that he had
been using a water pistol rather than a gun on the beach.

A spokesperson from the force said: "We received a call on Saturday 29 July
afternoon from a holidaymaker not from the area, stating they had seen a
man armed with a gun on the Godrevy Beach.

"This matter was assessed and a response unit was sent to the area as high
priority.

"The man was located and he explained to officers that it was a water
pistol which was in his car.

"Officers verified this and the matter closed."

<https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2023-08-02/mum-traumatised-as-armed-police-called-over-black-partners-water-pistol>

--
Spike

On 19/10/2023 01:40 pm, Spike wrote:
>
> A mum has described the "traumatising" experience of armed officers being
> called to a beach she was on in Cornwall after someone mistook her black
> partner's water pistol for a gun.
>
> Flo Finch was on holiday with her partner and children on 28 July when she
> says police with guns "cornered" them on Godrevy Beach.
>
> Devon and Cornwall Police say they were called by another beachgoer who
> reported there was a man armed with a gun.
>
> Flo, who is originally from Cornwall but was making a trip to the county
> from her current home in Essex, said she does not blame the police for
> their response to the call, but described the caller as "outright racist",
> because her partner Kieran is black.
>
> She claims the caller "jumped to conclusion" because of the colour of his
> skin.
>
> Posting about the incident on her TikTok, Flo said her family was
> "triggered" and "traumatised" by the experience.
>
> "Armed police with real life guns came to the beach and cornered us because
> of a water gun," she said.
>
> "Who on earth owns a bright blue and pink gun and who would be walking
> around with it on a beach? It’s a water gun. I’m so triggered as well. It’s
> so traumatising."
>
> Flo added that she doesn't intend to "knock" the police and felt they were
> "kind" and "empathetic" in how they dealt with the incident.
>
> But some general public person sat there and called the policed for a water
> gun just to traumatise our kids and to traumatise me", she said.
>
> “He’s back he’s safe and he’s fine but at the end of the day my kids are
> sitting there crying saying ‘is he going to killed mummy?'
>
> "There’s no rhyme or reason to it except the fact they saw a black man on
> the beach in Cornwall and they didn’t like it," she continued.
>
> "The fact the callers are allowing police officers to come fully armed with
> massive loaded guns on a beach with kids is inexcusable.
>
> "It was outright racism and it breaks my heart", she said.
>
> Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed they attended the scene as "high
> priority", however, they said the man explained to officers that he had
> been using a water pistol rather than a gun on the beach.
>
> A spokesperson from the force said: "We received a call on Saturday 29 July
> afternoon from a holidaymaker not from the area, stating they had seen a
> man armed with a gun on the Godrevy Beach.
>
> "This matter was assessed and a response unit was sent to the area as high
> priority.
>
> "The man was located and he explained to officers that it was a water
> pistol which was in his car.
>
> "Officers verified this and the matter closed."
>
> <https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2023-08-02/mum-traumatised-as-armed-police-called-over-black-partners-water-pistol>

It must have been the Devon and Cornwall Police who were on the
chav-bikes, then?

Just think of the furore if the original witness had not called in the
incident and the gun had been real, with resultant fatalities.

As the posters say: See something - say something.

Don't worry about the responses of perennially-recalcitrant* people like
May Sun.

An ounce of prevention, as they say, is worth a ton (never mind a pound)
of cure.

[* Apologies for the four and five syllable words.]