Police Shooting

[MacLeod]

www.news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1442000/1442286.stm

Ladies and Gentlemen, your thoughts ?

[PeteBroccolo]

I don't know, maybe it's the way I'm holding my tongue, but I can't get to that BBC site.

[Sparky]

dead link

[SWAT1]

Try news.bbc.co.uk then click on UK and the Headline:"Calm Urged After Brixton Shooting".
I feel a little qualified to comment on this firstly I worked Brixton both unarmed and later as a SWAT team leader. The guys involved in the shooting are from my old unit SO19 (Special Operations) and would be highly trained in this type of situation. My personal thoughts are this:
1. Never take a toy to a gunfight. Anybody but anybody who takes a Hostage and points a gun at them deserves to suffer the consequences, looking at the photograph of the weapon nobody be they a highly trained Police Officer or Citizen on the street would have known that that weapon was not real therefore if the officers thought at that time that the hostages life was in immediate danger they were perfectly justified in opening fire.
2. Brixton as many of you from the UK know is extremely prone to major disorder. It comes as no surprise to me that so called community leaders are calling for Militant Demonstrations to "Take the matter into their own hands" and "Defend Themselves" should the Police intervene. What happened to Democracy?.
3. As a result of (PIP) Post Incident Procedure there will be a full and thorough enquiry presided over by the Civilian Police Complaints Authority. The officers involved will be on administrative duties until the enquiry is complete.
4. The bottom line is he was a hostage taker pointing a gun at a hostage.
Please be Careful out there!