... there's this, about which I'd forgotten to post until earlier today:
It's an ASD 28" Steel-Tipped Archery Arrow For Recurve and Compound Bows. It's not a kid's toy arrow.
I was close by when I heard the thud as it landed in our garden, it had penetrated the ground roughly an inch and a half and was at an angle of about 60-70 degrees.
Now I shoot a .22 air rifle, and I know that if just one of my pellets was to cross the boundary of where I am allowed to shoot, I would be breaking the Firearms Laws, facing a huge fine plus confiscation of the rifle and ammunition, and probably a custodial sentence as well. Not to mention a visit from an Armed Response Unit in full tactical gear. That's why I have a more-than-adequate back-stop behind my target and never shoot above the horizontal.
I called my Dad because he knows about arrows (he's one of the Bowmen of Bosworth, makes his own arrows, and can shoot them nearly 200 yards on a good day of shooting clout). His thoughts were that it was potentially lethal, capable of killing or severely injuring a person, and that it must have been shot high, at a steep angle, from quite a distance - way more than the size of the gardens around here. An indiscriminate, unsafe and illegal shot. He advised calling the police ASAP.
Shortly afterwards, I also showed the arrow to a friend. His reactions were "What clown fired that?" and "Tell the police, it could have hit someone".
So I called Leicester Police HQ and told them about it. They were very concerned. They wanted me to surrender said arrow so that they could, if need be, match it to any subsequent similar reports in the area. They were concerned about what sort of injuries could have been caused and were concerned that it might happen again - nobody buys a bow and just one arrow! They gave me an incident number, told me that the local team might well call on me to discuss the incident and to view the scene, and I was told to surrender the arrow to Hinckley police station. They would call ahead so that the Hinckley police would know the situation and that they were to keep the arrow as evidence. Top marks to Leicester Police HQ for their understanding, their concern and their good advice.
I went directly to the Hinckley police station and, you guessed it, it was closed.
The next day I tried again. They were open. The desk sergeant on duty wasn't really interested in the incident and said that Leicester HQ had not mentioned anything about it. It took me 10 minutes to convince him that it was a valid incident with a proper police incident number. Eventually he found the incident on the Police Computer Network, read it, and took a good look at the arrow. He declared it to be a toy, retained possession of it...
and put it in "Lost Property" so that whoever lost it can claim it back!!!
And that's the last I heard of the matter. The local team never got in touch about discussing the incident or viewing the scene, I have no doubt that nobody ever told them.
But they wonder why confidence in their service keeps falling. Hmm...
