Mitchy260

Yes true, he should have stopped and he'd still be alive.

boomer

To all - the next time you are "out", make an effort to notice anybody who might be a suicide bomber. Big coat, rucksack, shifty eyes, non-white-British, etc. There are an awful lot of them!

Then think what would happen if you ran at them and shouted "Stop, armed police" (in your civvy clothes), and then proceeded to blow their heads off FIVE times.

This is a big ****-up for the UK security services, and a potential big win for the terrorists

mb

hedgehog

I think it is important not to let it become a win for the terrorists. It is only a win for the terrorists if the PC do-gooder types run away with public opinion on this matter. Any shooting by the security forces is unfortunate and this chap may not be connected with the bombers but we must stand for the right of the security forces to remove potential bombers from society. In turn this requires certain changes in society, i can see that, but we are not in texas any more toto.

djuk

I'm no expert in the field but at a wild guess I would imagine the "stop armed police" part comes a bit before the bullets start thudding into heads.

Whilst we don't know the full details of the situation yet I think it's safe to say the only scenario where these police officers should be prosecuted is if it transpires that they randomly opened fire without warning which I think is highly unlikely.

Chris5-0

Can we all please get on with finding those responsible for the bombings and attempted bombings? No? Sorry from some of the threads I thought you knew all the facts and were commenting from experience in plice firearms S.O.P's (standard operating procedure) about what happened on the tube!?! The terrorists would love to know we were all arguing amongst ourselves about this. Yes a man was shot who may or may not be innocent (my 5 penneth is he most certainly had something up with him) but we need to concentrate on catching the 3 0r 4 who most certainly are guilty of attempted murder. As a firearms officer myself it's going to be an interesting week or two!

Alan C

Hedgehog.. I couldn't agree more. The Police and other security forces have been operating for far too long with one hand tied behind their backs as the Government pander to PC & the minorities..

As I said to a good friend who's in the Police tonight, we're starting to reap the benefits of being a namby pamby state..

If you're not Brave enough or have the natural call of duty to get out there and do the job of protecting this country then don't criticise those that can and do, and don't play into the hands of those people whose job will be made easier by tying the Police's and security forces hands even more....

It's time to REALLY support the people who are now on the front line for us..

Pauleds2

Well said Alan,

Namby pamby nonsense dreamt up by politically correct "Yes men" undermines the effectiveness of our Police and armed forces and has the knock on effect of producing a society like ours.
A society which needs to change.

Alan C

Well said too mate..

You stalking me?

Brit_in_Japan

It is reported that the police adopted new procedures as a result of "Operation Kratos", procedures specifically aimed at combatting suicide bombers. The Met have not admitted publically to Operation Kratos, no doubt due to sensitivities about working closely with Israeli police/security agencies, not exactly a step to put British Muslims at ease.

My opinion (and it is just that) is that the new operating procedures make changes to the way the police ROE/SOP (whichever the correct term is) are interpreted so that not directly seeing a bomb or a gun is not a barrier to shooting a suspect if there is other evidence that the person concerned is an immediate danger to the police or other people's lives. I suppose such interpretations permit shooting a guy in the head at close range.

Some questions which need to be asked include:-
- are the standards of intelligence needed to decide whether to "shoot to kill" stringent enough?
- is it a good idea for the police (or maybe other security agencies concerned) to adopt Israeli security procedures in such a multi-cultural society as ours (I'm talking practically as well as politically)?
- how can we ensure that another innocent man isn't shot dead by the police whilst still protecting the public from the terrorists?

The man shot was called Jean Charles de Menezes, an electrician of Brazilian origin.

Leslie

If he was entirely innocent with regard to the London bombings then it is is tragic that he was killed.

It is difficult for us to comment accurately about the full circumstances since we are not eye witnesses of course.

I still think the armed officers behaved correctly in the circumstances as they were reported. He was challenged before he entered the Underground station and his response was to run for it and jump the ticket barriers. If his actions were due to blind panic the officers were not to know that.

Mitchy,

How would you go about stopping a suspected suicide bomber in his tracks?

Les

daiscooby

My view still doesn't change sorry.

TDT

FFS! Some of the people on this BBS terrify me.

The police have little experience in dealing with firearms? The Met has had a firearms branch (publicly ) since 1967! I think 38 years classes as a fair bit of experience!