Police in Force

Standing in my local Chinese Takeaway on Allerton Road, waiting for my order to arrive I noticed a police motorbike and a police car go past.

Nothing unusual in this on a Saturday night, since they appeared to be heading in the direction of Allerton Police station.

Then another police car went past, followed by a police CCTV equipped "riot" van full of policemen, then another similar van, and another, another police car, and a police motorbike. No sirens, but all had blue lights flashing.

I picked up my order and went outside. The police vehicles had turned at the roundabout that's in front of the local Library and Police Station, and had gathered in a long line on the opposite side of the dual carriageway.

There are 3 bars on that side of the road, in this order - Yates's, The "New York" bar and Mezz.

The police vehicles had gathered in a long line outside of these bars.
Several policemen had left the vans and entered the "New York" bar. These policemen were all wearing traditional flat peaked caps and white shirts.

The occupants of the police cars were all out of their cars and standing guard, looking up and down the street and across the road, whilst this took place. They were wearing heavy flak jackets and "SWAT" style police baseball caps. I don't know if they were armed, but their flak jackets seemed to be full of equipment (could have been batons, handcuffs, radio etc). If they were armed then weapons weren't drawn.

I walked a short way down the road, heading back home, whilst keeping an eye on what was going on. I noticed that they also had 2 police "trials" motorbikes waiting, with riders revving them, in the car park next to the Yates's bar. Looked like they were prepared for a possible off-road chase.

I reached a point on my side of the road between the "Pod" bar and "Crichtons" bar, and paused for another look. Another police van, car and motorbike arrived and parked up. Whatever was going on they definitely weren't taking any chances.

The 2 bars on my side of the road have tables outside, so that smokers driven outside by the recent Government smoking ban can sit down and have a drink too.

At this point one of the smokers piped up with a piece of Scouse wit.
"Somebody's lit a ciggie in the New York!"

Both bars on my side of the road erupted in laughter, causing the chaps in the flak jackets on the opposite side of the road to "meerkat" in our direction.

As I headed home I noticed the policeman from the vans leaving the "New York" bar. It didn't look like they'd made an arrest.

A lady came up to me and asked if there'd be another shooting. Another shooting? She told me that there'd been an incident on Penny Lane last night.

We looked this up when I got home. The news says that 2 doormen were shot at a night-club on Penny Lane last night, so the police activity could have been related to this. (Having had a meal at the Alma de Santiago for my Birthday earlier this year, I'd hardly call it a night club, but it does have a sizeable bar.)