A Thought on the Shooting
Jul. 25th, 2005 11:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
addersljA discussion in the office has just clarified my thinking on the shooting incident in Stockwell, and what went wrong.
And the answer is:
Why the hell was he ever allowed to get near the tube station? If the police were tailing him, and they had good reason to do so, he should have been challenged and stopped long before he arrived at a public transport node.
There was a failure of the police here. But it wasn't in the guys who participated in the emotive, viscereal act of pumping five bullets into the guy. In the position they were placed in, they did the only thing they could. The failure was with their superiors who let the situation get near that point. By not ordering an earlier intercept, the not only guaranteed the end of this poor guy's life, they put dozens of commuters' lives at risk.
And destroying an innocent life while endangering others - that's unforgivable.
And the answer is:
Why the hell was he ever allowed to get near the tube station? If the police were tailing him, and they had good reason to do so, he should have been challenged and stopped long before he arrived at a public transport node.
There was a failure of the police here. But it wasn't in the guys who participated in the emotive, viscereal act of pumping five bullets into the guy. In the position they were placed in, they did the only thing they could. The failure was with their superiors who let the situation get near that point. By not ordering an earlier intercept, the not only guaranteed the end of this poor guy's life, they put dozens of commuters' lives at risk.
And destroying an innocent life while endangering others - that's unforgivable.
