[DrN]

shoot to kill has to be accepted when they know someone is about to detonate a bomb. after all, there's no point in saying 'stop or I'll shoot' when he's out to kill himself anyway! he'd rather set the bomb off before he's killed.
There is the major problem of how sure are you that you have the right man, as seen in the shooting of the brazilian guy. obviously he was acting suspiciously because he was illegal and afraid of being caught and deported. would have been a better option. people are going to have to be prepared to accept the consequences of their illegal doings if they're going to prevent themselves being mistaken for a terrorist and shot in the street. if you've got nothing to hide you've probably got nothing to fear from this policy.

[VAlibrarian]

To me death seemed to be a somewhat severe consequence for the offense committed by the Brazilian fellow. But then, I would not wish to be a policeman in that situation, required to make an instant decision of life or death.

chris wiegard

[DrN]

from the news thats coming out now the whole thing seems entirely dubious. how do we know anything we read in the papers is even remotely true? they now say he was sitting calmly in his seat when he was shot. doesn't sound like he was acting suspiciously at all. and 11 shots? surely just one point-blank shot in the head was all that was required to kill him. I realise you'll always get the odd dodgy, trigger-happy cop, but a mess-up of this scale is going to seriously dent public trust and support of the police. and no, I wouldn't want to be a policeman (or woman!) in London at the moment either.

[neilep]

It's such a right royal f**k up isn't it?...if the police do nothing they get caned, if they do something they also get caned.....all I can say that from my experience on the day and subsequent to that I have had nothing but admiration for the police....I have seen them in action first hand and yes, oh boy, what a massive awful terrible blunder of the worst possible kind, but as Lindsay says, I doubt we'll ever get to the bottom of it. I am so totally cynical nowadays that I just take everything I see on the news and read with a ginormous sack of salt.....I really can't tell if we ever get the facts...and if we do...do we get all the facts ?

Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!