Posted on 03/08/2006 9:48:37 AM PST by Sax
Shooting Policy Defended Updated: 11:19, Wednesday March 08, 2006
Police tactics for dealing with suspected suicide bombers have been backed by senior officers, despite the fatal shooting of an innocent Brazilian.
Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead at a Tube station in London after being mistaken for a terrorist.
In backing the policy - called Operation Kratos - the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) acknowledged it was still awaiting the outcome of an official investigation into the Tube shooting.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission probe has been completed and a report sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Operation Kratos says suspected suicide bombers can be shot in the head to stop them detonating any devices and ACPO says this tactic is "fit for purpose".
It denies it is a "shoot to kill policy".
Tube killing prompted review The policies were set up in the wake of 9/11 and the review has called for the tactics to be explained in a leaflet designed for the public.
But Chief Constable Barbara Wilding, who helped draw up the policy, told the BBC that it did not plan for the events that led to the shooting of Mr Menezes.
She said it was not prepared for an intelligence gathering operation turning into a live and mobile threat.
ACPO president Sir Chris Fox said: "The police service has an overriding duty to protect life, and occasionally, in discharging its duty, force is used.
"Very rarely officers, in order to save life, may have to take life."
But the de Menezes family are unhappy with this.
"ACPO seeks to reinstate the secret policy publicly before any inquiry into the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes is completed," they say in a statement.
Sounds like a practical policy to me. The funny part is there's apparently still a PC need to dance around the terminology.
...says suspected suicide bombers can be shot in the head to stop them detonating any devices and ACPO says this tactic is "fit for purpose"...It denies it is a "shoot to kill policy".
So the policy allows for officers to send rounds directly into the head of the suspect, the killing part is just a residual side effect, I guess..
Shoot them in the head, kill the brain. That's the only way you stop zombies.
Well, of course! It's a well established legal principle; "The cops can shoot anybody."
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