Police have been given secret new shoot-to-kill guidelines in recent weeks, it emerged on Friday after officers shot a man dead on an Underground train at Stockwell, south London.The new guidelines for armed police and surveillance officers confronting suspected suicide terrorists advise them to shoot to the head and not the body in case the suspect has a bomb.
Friday morning’s shooting was a significant escalation in the hunt for the terrorists behind the bomb attacks that have killed more than 50 people. Police said the dead man had been under observation because he had emerged from a house linked to the investigations into Thursday’s attempted attacks on three Tube trains and a bus.
Of course, this kind of policy only stays secret until it’s – ahem – executed for the first time. Then everybody knows about it. And if you’re like me you wonder why we never heard of it before. The counter-argument to this is that a statement in Parliament or wherever would have led to a tremendous controversy and caused political inconvenience to the government. Which in turn implies that the political convenience of the government is a factor in decisions taken over public safety. And that is really out of order.
I dunno. I think that my worries about this are the same as they are every time the government goes off half cocked on somebody else’s bright ideas. It’s the worry you have for an infant rootling around in the knife draw. You like to think that this policy is the end product of careful thought and rigorous training. But you get the feeling that it went something like:
Well, what with these bombings and everything we have to take…
Tough measures, Prime Minister.
Yes, tough measures. What do you have in mind?
Well, the Israelis shoot suspected suicide bombers in the head.
My word, that is tough. Where did you find out about that?
Oh, I read it on some website.
Ooooooh, yes! A website! A hi-tech initiative! Let’s do it. It’s really tough!
Shall we associate you with this tough measure, Prime Minister?
Mmmm, not sure. Could we associate the Home Secretary with it?
He doesn’t fancy being associated with it either.
Well, OK. Let’s just go ahead and do it and then we’ll see.
UPDATE: So now we know.
A man shot dead by police hunting the bombers behind Thursday's London attacks was unconnected to the incidents, police have confirmed.The man was killed in Stockwell Tube station in an incident described by Scotland Yard as a "tragedy".
Now it was obviously pretty stupid to run away when challenged by a bunch of jumpy, armed cops. But let's get this straight. The man was pushed to the floor and given five in the head. If he'd known that a shoot to kill policy was in operation then it's a good deal likely he'd have been less stupid in the first place. This should have been made public. Jesus-H-fucking-christ-on-a-bike, you just can't trust this government around dangerous weapons.
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