July 25, 2005

Shoot-to-Kill-to-Protect Policies

Secretary of Snark (email) at 03:18 PM

Headlining in most international dailies is a discussion of the London Metropolitan Police's "Shoot-to-Kill in order to Protect" policy. This is a result of the incident on 22 July, when a Brazilian national was shot dead in error by police as part of the inquiry into attempted bomb attacks. Despite having 7 bullets pumped into his head, he was later found not to be connected to the terrorist attacks.

I'll admit that the terrorist attacks have made me more nervous when riding the London Tube. But this type of incident doesn't do anything to calm my nerves. A further discussion has ensued as a result of the shooting, and comments on the BBC UK website are across the board. Remarks range from "It is a disgrace that people are criticising the police" to "The man may well have heard the call and thought he was about to be mugged!"

This may be a hindsight issue, but I have great difficulties with having an innocent man being pinned by cops and pumped full of bullets eight times. A sad day for the "War on Terror".

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