Thursday 8 September 2011

Police And Weapons, Again

During the operation to find and apprehend the murderer Raoul Moat, police deployed 'shotgun' like taser weapons that do not have approval for use in the UK. Assistant Chief Constable Steven Ashman has had a think about his actions in authorising their use and come to the conclusion that everything was OK and he did the right thing. This is a common situation these days, From expenses fiddling MP's, to Sharon Shoesmith, to Assistant Chief Constable Steven Ashman, senior figures in the public sector are allowed to make a judgement on their actions and absolve themselves of any wrongdoing.

Steve has been quoted as saying that he deployed the weapons, illegally, as he could see only two outcomes otherwise; either Raoul would shoot himself, or they would shoot him. So the Tasers were deployed and Raoul still shot himself, which leaves me a little confused over the defence the ACC has come up with, even with the benefit of hindsight. Maybe I expect too much.

I wonder if relatives of those shot by police, even where they did have a gun, perhaps a 'converted weapon', but still viable, can sue the police? I mean, though the possession of the weapon was technically illegal he was carrying it for a good reason, self protection say and that consideration outweighs the legal niceties. Or am I missing something? Are only state employees allowed to invent new rules to cover every eventuality?

You see, I would quite like the police to operate within the law and to think that so doing was part of the reason they hold that position, the reason they can take away someone else's liberty; because they have a moral superiority. Maybe, where a senior officer doesn't justify his serious misjudgement during riots by saying he is pleased no-one was hurt. I might be wrong, but I think a society where robbers are told to ply their trade at will on the proviso that they don't hurt anyone, would be a poor society indeed.

It seems that the order of priorities for senior police officers these days runs something like this; salary, position, pension, size of office, opportunity to apply all that was learnt in sociology degree, crime. And quite often they can't fit it all in.


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