http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... g-man.html

I hope that the police authority have the money to pay out for compensation to the man who drowned.

I don't think Police Officers are (nor should be) obligated to dive in and save someone...there's no guarantee they can swim, or even if they can that they have the appropriate skills to rescue someone from the water.

All too often this sort of scenario ends in tragedy, I remember when 2 PCs drowned trying to save someone from the sea at Penzance, only for the man to be washed back ashore by the tide.

Difficult one. Easy to have a kneejerk reaction, but none of us were there. I know that stretch of water well and I certainly wouldn't want to jump in without serious cause. Also, if the guy was off his face, you have no idea what it might have looked like to observers at the time.

That said, if regulations are preventing public servants from serving, that's an issue. I may have issues with the police as a whole, but if an individual is prevented from helping in an emergency due to nonsense regs, that needs looking at.

Yes but that does not stop them from calling in a lifeboat or throwing a life ring. The fact that these were not done is not an excuse for their negligence. It should be recorded as a death within police custody, as they failed to detain the man. The man may not have been fit to make decisions for himself.