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i think the police did what they felt was right at that moment in time. They had to act fast in view of the terrorist threat. He fitted the description, he ran, which gave them even more reason to believe that he was the person they were looking for. They shot him before he had the chance to detonate a bomb, which they believed at the time was his reason for boarding the tube. Had they hesitated and he had been a suicide bomber, he would have just pushed the button and blown everyone to pieces. In that sort of situation, the police have to act fast and in the publics best interests, and this is what i think they did. Turns out they got the wrong guy, but things would have been so much different if he had been a terrorist and and they had not acted. Mistakes happen, i dont see why anyone should resign over this. They did the right thing.
@~Pebbles~ wrote:
i think the police did what they felt was right at that moment in time. They had to act fast in view of the terrorist threat. He fitted the description, he ran, which gave them even more reason to believe that he was the person they were looking for. They shot him before he had the chance to detonate a bomb, which they believed at the time was his reason for boarding the tube. Had they hesitated and he had been a suicide bomber, he would have just pushed the button and blown everyone to pieces. In that sort of situation, the police have to act fast and in the publics best interests, and this is what i think they did. Turns out they got the wrong guy, but things would have been so much different if he had been a terrorist and and they had not acted. Mistakes happen, i dont see why anyone should resign over this. They did the right thing.
Errr Pebbles- JCDM didnt “run” anywhere, least of all away from any police officer. He was shot point blank 7 times in the head standing in a tube train.
The police believed they had the right man hence they shot him- with that I have no argument- the men who actually shot JCDM did what they were trained to do.
The failings are in communications, surveillance and top brass
ooops yeah youre right just checked, sorry thought i read somewhere that he ran
Nevertheless, he acted suspiciously according to the police
Unusually for me Im 100% with PB on this one.
Had he have been obiding the law and not here illegally it would not have happened.
I feel the utmost remorse for the police involved, and wish his family would go back to the place that they call home.
If I were somewhere illegally and lost my child the last thing I would want to do is stay there, I would want to go home.
OK I take the points made. For me – I think that the Police officer(s) that actually fired the fatal shots into Mr de Menezes’ head acted correctly at the time AND in the light of the information that they were given also at that particular time.
As it happens I do know something of the training that these guys go through and I have spent time at Lippett’s Hill where some of them were trained. It is absolutely fundamental to these specialist officers that they do NOT shoot unless they have positive information that there is a real and present danger to either their own life OR those of members of the public.
I guess that IF you are looking for culpability for what has turned out to be a dreadful mistake then you have to go back up the information chain and maybe even further back up to the tactical and operational command officers.
Screaming for the head of the Commissioner really isn’t the way to go here. That said – my guess is that there will be the usual Media witchunt coupled with the usual outcry from all the chattering classes and the civil liberties groupswith an axe to grind. If they keep it up long enough then he will find himself in an impossible position and be forced to resign.
Personally, I think he is a total twat – but then I didn’t have any say in his appointment.
We agree PB!!
The actually police officers directly involved in the shooting did exactly what they were trained to do in a situation they’d had training in. Their information from the manager/senior officers was that JCDM was a suicide bomber- no problems- they shot him believing what they were doing was right
However the issue lies with the information and surveillance and communications surroudning that case. N Sharon, dont ever top up yer fake tan cos the police surveillance team thought a South American looked Middle Eastern!
The issues that are opened up are about the capability of the police force, in light of all the information about the case, to protect us. Remember Ian Blair coming on TV and saying that he had a “large coat on like he was concealing something and he ran away from officers”- if the information the Commissioner gets from the ground is utterly wrong, what hope have they of truly actually finding those who DO need to be shot!
Yes I’ve often wondered about the Media statements that Sir Ian Blair made in the aftermeth of this killing.
My instinct is that he was deliberately stitched up by his own staff. He is a deeply unpopular Commissioner within the Met and is seen as a politically correct leader who cares more about accepting blame on behalf of his officers than he does about robustly defending them.
I wouldn’t mind betting that feeding him dodgy information and getting him to release it in his own name to the Media was a bit of payback time on behalf of those who were pissed off with him.
Either way it was clearly the chain of command that was stuffed up …. and by all accounts the lovely and fragrant Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick would be more at home running an Oxfam shop than a major incident command centre.
As far as I am concerned the police are trained to do their jobs to protect the public
If they shot this guy thinking he was a terorist or bomber or whatever – that’s fair enough for me
As it was he was here illegally which probably made him run , look suspicious or whatever .
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