Lazer pen cretins arrested in Teesside
 

Justice at last! Result! I hope they lash them for what they did. A couple of years ago some idiots were using lazer pens on passenger jets flying in to EGNV. Lock them up and throw away the key I say and make an example of them.

Link here: Gazette Live - News - Local News - Two teens arrested under Air Navigation Order

Great that should put the breaks on the idiots that shine these lasers at aircraft

I don't agree that a custodial sentence would be a just punishment for the crime.

Whereas they have recklessly endangered lives, was it through teenage tomfoolery or a deliberate attempt to cause a crash? Furthermore I'm not sure that a spell 'inside' would serve as an example, either. Perhaps a lengthy period of community service would more efficiently educate the boys of the error of their ways, and help to keep the local area clean.

Lash 'em?...............put the "breaks" on 'em?
If we did that then surely we should hang anyone who has the temerity to steal cars or indeed commit an assault in the street.
In aviation we are always complaining about NIMBY'ISM and the general public not seeing "our" side of things and as soon as a couple of scroats commit a crime against us, we jump onto the "Hang 'em High" bandwagon. Shame on you.
I can't and won't defend the little gits,but to lash 'em? Get real please.
:ugh:

I'm a teenager myself, and regardless of my interest in aviation, I would need to have some disorder not to realise that l@(?)sering a pilot of an aircraft full of people is a bad idea. Idiots like that should be punished to the full extent of whatever laws and morals we have left.:mad:

The punishment should fit the crime, and the crime here is endangering HUNDREDS of lives.

Well, hang is probably too strong a word, but then again, stealing a car isn't comparable to endangering hundreds of lives. I still think car thieves should be punished. There is always a choice. :=

Prison is possibly not the best plan, though richly deserved, as it may criminalise "mere" thugs. "Community service" is a wet cop out that will have them laughing their socks off throughout. What is really needed in such cases of wanton oikishness is a dose of their own medicine; a bloody good beating, and I mean bloody good, and a months hard labour, proper back-breaking hard labour, in public, in identifiable orange boiler suits or similar to make a public example and spectacle of them. That would not only act as a thoroughly effective deterrent, but also show the public that scrotes like this are being properly dealt with, instead of being pretty much let off as we do now.

Lashing & hanging?! What the hell am I reading here, The Daily Mail? :confused:

I used to go to the pub with a laser pen when I was in my 20's. It was great fun shining across a packed pub onto a ladies...ah hem...assets :O. Used to a good way to meet new people ;)

So anyway, I reckon it could be tomfoolery and perhaps the best course of action is to educate these people as to why it is so dangerous, rather than sling them inside.

The only time I had a laser shone at me was over South Central LA....I was more worried about what it was attached to !

Call me a wishy-washy-pinko-liberal-hand-wringing-leftie-tree-hugger, but personally I'm of the opinion the only way to deal with people like this is keel-hauling.

I'm encouraged that the incoming administration are in favour of prison-ships, which make for a convenient keel-hauling platform as well as having purpose-built accomodation for the scrotes before and after the jaunt round the barnacles.

Please do not take my comment literally, that being said this country is too soft. Some people on this forum just love to jump on the bones of anyone posting and give a cantankerous reply. For instance:

ak7274 - have you suddenly become a school teacher? This isn't a spelling test. As for stealng a car you cannot compare that to the potential loss of hundred of lives. This is not a one off problem - this has been going on for a while and needs to be stopped. ak7274 you need to buck up!!

I'm sure those who call the act "Tomfoolery" and not deserved of a custodial sentence wouldn't be saying that if a 737 was brought down killing all on board. As for community service - it doesn't work which has already been proved. There is a reason why the ANO is upping their game - because is can cost many lives and is an ongoing problem.

CraigJL has a very good point!

The last prison ship based at Portland was sold to Nigeria as an accomodation barge for use in the Oil Industry. As I work in the OI I am not in favour of prison ships :}

Send them down
 

As a retired Magistrate of 24 years service, and having studied and seen all forms of punishment, my opinion is that a minimum of 1 year in prison is most appropriate and that their names should be published, instead of being withheld because of their age.

^^
Another good point. Name and shame. If a criminal is deemed old enough to be sentenced, they are old enough to be shamed. At 15, I'm slightly older than the prats mentioned, but my idea of justice does not waiver.

I need to buck up?... A couple of juveniles who had no idea of the coniskwecensiz ov there akshuns did something exremely dangerous. I am sure if they were aware of that, they wouldn't have said to each other "Lets go try bring down an Airliner with this £2 laser torch"
I do however believe in Justice and if you don't want your comments taken litturally then don't take mine as such.
They should be named... They should be punished.......They should be educated in the consequences of their actions and not treated with Kid Gloves.
Lashed?..... locked up and throw away the key? Get real.:ugh:
How about making examples of the real scroats in our society like the bankers who last year alone cost me over 30% of my private pension and will still be able to buy a new Cirrus with this years bonus.
How about Pilots without current medicals still flying years after losing it?
Where are you going to stop?

Cretin or Criminal?
 

Is it a criminal offence to be cretinous?

Is that a year in prison (or hang draw and quarter) for muckin' around with a great little toy... or a year in prison for endangering the lives of others.

It's likely that these youngsters would to go into prison thoughtless and underoccupied and come out drug-addicted, thoughtless and underoccupied with an education in TWOCking and Burglary(Domestic). Now... Do you really want to send them to prison?

Age, so what?
 

The age of responsibility is 10. These kids were 14.

There has been extensive publicity on Teesside, and elsewhere, about the dangers of lasers. Even bus drivers have been temporally blinded so it's time to get serious and make examples of scum like them.

If you step over the line you take the punishment. This country is in the state that prevails because we've been too soft for too long. We've tried, in the past probation, now called a community punishment, and the authorities tell us that it works. Not in my experience of seeing the same faces over and over again in court. A punishment is needed and it has to be one that shows others that if you offend society you pay the price.

The comparison with bankers is totally irrelevant in this scenario, but if you want to persue it perhaps you should blame Brown and his clowns who were informed of what was happening more than two years previously and let it go on when they had the power in legislation to do something about it.

It's time we got rid of these horrendously expensive copper choppers. It costs a fortune just to catch some teenage car thief only to see him have his wrist slapped and told off for being naughty. They are a very long way from being cost effective. I for one am sick of being woken by our local ego-trippers at least twice a week, and I'm not unique in my views.

As for the Laser-louts. Well, I'm a pilot. Enough said.

And it's Brown and his clowns that have allowed the soft approach in this situation to develop too. That doen't make it irrelevant. If the general consensus is to whip them within an inch of their lives, then that's what should be done.
However because we don't seem to live in the real world then why doesn't the state look into the upbringing of these little criminals?
Oh and the Bankers at least knew the consequences of their actions.
Calling them Scum won't help either.

It does seem a bit harsh to me....

When we were kids me and my brother used to shine an old second world war signalling search light (which my grandad had nicked from the Germans) at the navy helos. We learned how to signal "hello" in Morse code and to our surprise one circled around and signalled "hello" back....

We had no intention or blinding the pilot nor did we even think of it at the time. Kids will be kids, had a copper knocked on the door and given us a bollocking, explaining how dangerous it could have been, and had my parents known then no doubt we would have stopped. Should we have been locked up and the key thrown away?