Apparently, this actually happened.
Let me put it this way: it seems to be a legitimate tweet from the Regent’s Park Police division of the London Metro Police force. The Twitter account’s links all go to legitimate sites and other MPS accounts, and there’s a tweet history that looks serious.
On 16 March, the Regent’s Park Police proudly displayed the dangerous weapons they had safely disposed and taken off the streets near Mackworth House, on Augustas Street. (H/t Conservative Tribune)
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
The original tweet (it’s preserved for posterity as a screen cap, in case it comes to seem like less of a good idea as time goes by):
These items were found during a #weaponSweep near #MackworthHouse #AugustasSt during #OpSceptre . Safely disposed and taken off the streets pic.twitter.com/53HdeqMKu1
— Regents Park Police (@MPSRegentsPark) March 16, 2018
The police were conducting Operation Sceptre, which Ben Marquis at Conservative Tribune describes as follows:
The seizure of those common household items was part of what is known as Operation Sceptre, a police initiative aimed at reducing knife crime and violence by finding and removing dangerous “weapons” from the streets, often by way of weapons sweeps, test purchases in shops that sell them and “stop and searches” on the streets, an action similar to the much-maligned “stop and frisk” tactic that liberals hate so much.
Aside from the sarcasm about “stop and frisk” tactics, which we of course deplore (the sarcasm, you understand), I think we’re all mesmerized here by the idea of making “test purchases” of…needle-nose pliers and screwdrivers. Who knew?
I’m starting to feel downright alarmed that I have these very implements lurking in my toolbox. Forget Home Depot or a dedicated hardware store; heck, forget Wal-Mart; I could go buy them right now at a 7-11. (And if the police were there, I can guarantee you it wouldn’t be to make test purchases of cheap pliers plastic-strapped to cardboard.)
In case you need to get your tactical bearings in relation to this emerging threat (note: if the MPS map at police.uk is accurate, the location of the massive 16 March tool find appears to actually be in Camden’s beat):
The tweeps have been a bit hard on them.
Harbor Freight would shock them to their core!
— S. Alabama Nobody⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@SAlabamaNobody) March 31, 2018
Somewhere in England there's a handyman looking for his crappy tools. Off to the unemployment line for him. Job well done
— David Ornellas (@david_jko) March 17, 2018
A suspicious tweep took the trouble to find similar evidence from a blue-checked account.
Ok, searched the tak #OpSceptre and found this on a verified accounthttps://t.co/fIoKFE1HrI
— scarlett_0hara (@scarlett_0hara) March 31, 2018
All we can say is, thank goodness someone is on top of these things.
