The Papers: 'Army on standby' after armed officers down guns

General Chat In The News
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Hi

I have had years of working with the Police and Armed Officers.

They are damned if they do and damned if they do not.

Split second decisions and the CPS are omnipotent in their decisions.

They have weeks and months to make the decision but have never been on the spot.

I am so, so, pleased that I never reported to the CPS.

They are a highly paid bunch bunch of idiots who cannot tell the difference between protecting the Public and the rights of the offender.

Whilst never subject to them, I and others where subject to an examination by someone far more realistic, but also far more scary.

He had a somewhat unique use of words…

In this instance Mr Swimfeeders was flawed in his logic and understanding of the Law.

The outcome however was appropriate to the protection of the public health and public safety.

It is not one which should be adopted as a standard.

They could be Career ending if you got it wrong.

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I think we should trust the police bearing firearms to be given the right directives by the supervising officer and if later that proves to be wrong, then sobeit. They are there to protect the general public and IMO they mostly get it right.

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Give the police their guns. Criminals have not given up their arms.

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Australian police are armed, it is generally not a problem, they all carry tasers and pepper spray too.

It could be argued that they are ill equipped to face the mentally ill.

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There is just too much to unpick in this instance.

We need to look at the entire situation (which we may not have yet).

From the information in the reports. The police were trailing a ‘suspect’ with no identifying features i.e., a siren or flashing lights. They stopped him (surrounded him) and he was shot in the head. He did not have a gun, or any weapon.

Think about the entire scenario form the victims perspective, being pursued by an unidentified car and then being blocked in. What in goodness name was going through his mind, before he didn’t have a chance to have another thought.

Fear.

It later emerged the Audi Mr Kaba was driving, which did not belong to him, is ‘believed’ to be linked by police to a gun incident the day before.

The day before? It could have been a family’s car he was driving (open driver). Does that mean because it’s not registered to him, he should not have had due process. I.e., at least a form of communication, to find out who he actually is, and possibly ask him to ‘step out of the car’.

We also need to look at race, it does play a part, no matter how we try to ignore it. Most police officers, that is all they see. Public respect for the police has fallen to an all time low in London, lower amongst black Londoners for years. This is nothing new (see Stephen Lawrence the Macpherson report and more recent debate July 2023). A recent report (March 2023) found the Met police to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.

‘The report by Louise Casey, commissioned by the Met after one of its officers abducted Sarah Everard, taking her from from a [London] street in March 2021, before raping and murdering her, is one of the most damning of a major British institution’ .(London | UK news | The Guardian).

Nonetheless, armed officers are held to a higher standard and should be prosecuted according to that standard. Regular testing of the mental stability of police officers who carry arms is a must. In situations like this, knee jerk reactions, can kill, and it possible did.

What is important, is to know what prompted the armed officer to shot Mr Kaba, in the head?

What danger did he pose at that very moment?

Hopefully, more information will be forthcoming.