More on the shoot-to-kill mishap...

[mrph]

It's the last paragraph that makes for interesting reading...

Ms Figueiredo described her cousin, a 27-year-old electrician, as an "extremely honest" person and said he had done nothing against the law.

She was one of four of the dead man's cousins - the others were Alessandro Pereira, Alex Pereira and Patricia Da Silva Armani - speaking at the London press conference.

They said they did not believe Mr Menezes, who had been challenged by plainclothes officers outside Stockwell, had vaulted the ticket barriers in order to evade them, nor that he had been wearing a heavy jacket, as was reported at the time.

Ms Figueiredo said police told her he was wearing a denim jacket and had used his travel card to get through the station.

From here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4722861.stm

Comments

[mrph.livejournal.com]

They can say he wasn't into anything bad because, y'know, the police have repeatedly said so too. No issue there.

The words that got my attention and made me post this were "police told her". If the police really did say that, it'll come out at the inquiry, yes. But if they didn't, I'd expect that statement to have vanished from the BBC website by now.

And I really don't think the expired visa was relevant. The claim that it had expired came from anonymous sources - and hasn't been confirmed, as far as I know. The reply from Jack Straw was that he did not know Mr Menezes' precise immigration status but said it was his "understanding that he was here lawfully". Let's just leave it at that, ok?

I just wish that all these people would come over here and show the police how it is done - they obviously have far more superior knowledge on how to tackle terrorists. I would be very interested to see...

The police have a very mixed record on this. They made some very unfortunate mistakes when dealing with the IRA, for example, some of which were entirely avoidable (and a few of which were actively dishonest/sloppy - West Midlands Serious Crime Squad, anyone?). That's the background I grew up against, and I'm waiting to be proved wrong. I hope they'll do better this time, but I'm not entirely confident.

[lougarry.livejournal.com]

Look what ever dude. I'm just sick and tired of people turning on the police for everything they do. If they dont respond they lacked the intelligenced, if they do respond, they're being heavy handed and are over reacting.

The decision to shoot to kill was implemented over 3 and half years ago, we've just not had to use it until now, so hundreds of people dying at the hands of the police is just not going to happen. They dont go around shooting for the fun of it, but they are under immense pressure to catch these guys and also prevent any more attacks. It was unfortunate that the guy happened to be in the wrong building at the wrong time, and looked shifty. Even more unfortunate that he decided to use the tube to try to get away and I can not fault the police for taking the action that they did. Their decisions are not taken lightly.

People are so quick off the mark to put the police down, based on their past record, but they neglect all the good things that they have done. It's always the same, people are swift to talk about how things should be done, but very rarely are willing to do anything about what they say or follow their words with any action and that is what I was refering to.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. I'm not putting the police down, I'm just very cautious about this sort of policy and I find this sort of mishap extremely worrying.

So it's best if we agree to differ on this one. Neither you nor I are in any position to follow our words with action (other than letting our MPs know just what we think), after all.