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Shoot-to-kill guidelines for UK police
By Jimmy Burns and Frederick Studemann in London
Police in LondonPolice 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.
But security insiders said the man, who was described by witnesses as of Asian appearance, was not one of the four men suspected of Thursday’s attacks.
The implication that police were operating a so-called “shoot-to-kill” policy against suspected terrorists could be highly controversial. Nigel Churton, chief executive of security consultants Control Risks, said “those arguing that the war on terrorism is getting out of hand are going to have a field day.
On Friday night the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission called for a public enquiry into the shooting in Stockwell. “This is an extra-judicial killing by police who have been trained in shoot-to-kill,” it said.
The police now face inquiries into their actions that could hit morale, and last night the Independent Police Complaints Commission confirmed that it was investigating the Stockwell shooting. Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said the force was confronting what he called its “greatest operational challenge ever”. They faced “previously unknown threats and great danger,” he added as he appealed for “the understanding of all communities”.
Sir Ian said the dead man had been “challenged and refused to obey police instructions.”
Police raided at least three addresses in London on Friday. Scotland Yard said a man has been arrested in Stockwell.
Police issue pictures of four bomb suspects
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Police released closed circuit TV pictures of the four suspects and sought public assistance as forensic work continued on what appeared to be home-made explosive devices used on Thursday.
A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers said on Friday night a “special project group had developed operational tactics to help police respond swiftly and effectively to such threats”. The guidelines were secretly developed in consultation with police forces including Israel, Russia and the US.
Forum posts
23 July 2005, 19:57
While bombers failed to seriously injure anyone, the Metro police managed to shoot an unarmed man 5 times (after he had fallen to the floor) at point blank range.
Way to go, not only do we feel much safer, we know that the police are as good at instilling blood-curdling fear into tube passengers as are the bombers. Where did they get their training from, the NYPD?
24 July 2005, 17:47
Slightly unfair ............the bombers tried to kill innocent people whilst the police shot somebody they believed to be a possible suicide bomber ..............we have to remember that this shooting was not only based on the fact that the man ran away but on the intelligence that was provided to the officers by possibly MI5 or MI6..............I personally hope that the officers made the man fully aware that they were police and could be identified by wearing their SO19 caps. If they did > then I obviously do not understand why the man ran .....this can only heighten their suspicions and they are there to protect the public and once the suspect entered the carriage then they had no opportunity but to shoot ..........The crux of this is at the time of shooting was there a severe threat that the public or the police could have been killed .........this has to be what was in the mind of SO19 to justify the shooting .........................
24 July 2005, 21:11
Is that the kind of world people endorse, where if you look arabic and happen to disobey orders or run from the police they have carte blanche to shoot you 5 times in the head? Is the social hysteria and manipulation of fear so widespread that we forgive this kind of murderous catastrophe? Suspicion is not, in a civil society, justification for shooting someone like a dog. I don’t believe that Londoners want to live in a place like that.
24 July 2005, 20:13
I think the police should have informed the public of the new shoot-to-kill policy beforehand, and it should have been explained in detail.
Apparently it was a secret guideline and it was known only after someone was killed.
Only if people know the law, can they be aware of the consequences of their actions.
25 July 2005, 01:49
I don’t disagree with a shoot-to-kill policy in it’s own right! But was the Brazillian man challenged in a manner that gave him a choise.He obviously knew or suspected nothing of what was to confront him with a police challenge! I only wonder how any of us would react in such a situation?
Lyn
29 July 2005, 17:58
I commend the SO19 officers involved in this shooting for their courage and bravery. To chase after a man you honestly believe to be a suicide bomber and grapple with him to save the lives of others takes a great deal of dedication when all your instincts would be telling you that it is time to run the other way or take cover from a possible explosion. The British public should be thankful that men like these are prepared to compromise their own safety for the safety of the general public. While the subject was not a suicide bomber in this instance, the police acted appropriately in the circumstances. Police and intelligence services have copped an undue hard time recently over the tube bombings occuring in the first place. Imagine if they had "arrested" a suicide bomber who was still armed up and he then detonated his explosives killing and injuring innocent people and the arresting officers! It’s my view that the British Police and intelligence services are doing a first rate job with limited resources. Terrorist arrests and breakthroughs are made almost everyday in the UK and these barely make the news. However, a few explosions and all the good work is soon forgotten. No one can get it right 100% of the time. I know one thing for sure - London would be a lawless and extremely dangerous place if it were not for the courageous and brave Police officers.
4 August 2005, 09:47
So how do you feel now?
9 August 2005, 11:24
With one cop holding a limb each, another jumps on the guy’s back and pumps in eight bullets at point blank range. Some heroes. A disgrace to the uniform they weren’t wearing. Committing murder in front of a carriage full of passengers is the height of stupidity, so why did they do it? They let him get on the train to give themselves the justification. Do you still buy the official story (aka the fiction)? If those cops believed for one second they were dealing with a suicide bomber they wouldn’t have got within 50 metres of him. This was an assassination, and the police are still concealing a lot. You have to adopt the mind set: This is what they telling us, now let’s turn it through 180 degrees and work out what they are trying to conceal.