Big Problems With British Police Shooting

In a country that's already afraid of guns, the police shooting the other day in London was a brutal wake-up call to the realities of dealing with suicide bombers. Unfortunately for everyone involved, it now appears that the shooting victim was an innocent Brazilian who may have acted suspiciously out of fear of the plainclothes officers who were following him.

Scotland Yard admitted Saturday that a man police officers chased and shot to death at point-blank range in front of horrified subway passengers on Friday had nothing to do with the investigation into the bombing attacks here.

Senior investigators and officials of the Metropolitan Police said the man was believed to be South American; it was not known whether he was Muslim. No explosives or weapons were found on the man's body after the shooting, police officials said.

The incident sent shock waves through the country's 1.6 million Muslims, already alarmed by a publicly acknowledged shoot-to-kill policy directed against suspected suicide bombers. And it has dealt a major setback to the police investigation into suspected terrorist cells in London.

"This really is an appalling set of circumstances," said John O'Connor, a former police commander. "The consequences are quite horrible."

Azzam Tamimi, head of the Muslim Association of Britain, said: "This is very frightening. People will be afraid to walk the streets, or go on the tube, or carry anything in their hands."

And of course, you knew this was coming:

Civil rights groups also seemed likely to demand new curbs on the police at precisely the moment officers have been given far more of a free hand to pursue the investigation into the bombings.

Unlike their counterparts in the colonies, most British police officers are not armed, but realities are changing and if the terrorist attacks continue to happen, the British people will have to learn to accept the idea of armed law enforcement, especially if the methodology of terror continues to be suicide attacks.

Normally British police officers are under orders to give ample warming and, if they have no choice but to open fire, to aim to wound. However, according to London's mayor, Ken Livingstone, that has given way to a shoot-to-kill policy in some circumstances.

"If you are dealing with someone who might be a suicide bomber, if they remain conscious they could trigger plastic explosives or whatever device is on them. And therefore overwhelmingly in these circumstances it is going to be a shoot-to-kill policy," he said after the shooting Friday, but before the acknowledgement by the police that the dead man was not part of the investigation. Police guidelines for dealing with suspected suicide bombers recommend shooting at the head rather than the body in case the suspect is carrying explosives.

Except in Northern Ireland, at airports and nuclear facilities, British police officers are not routinely armed. A small percentage of officers - roughly 7 percent in London - have weapons training, which is also required for the use of Taser stun guns, available to nearly all police forces. As routine weapons, officers carry a baton and a tear-gas-like spray. Of more than 30,000 officers in London, around 2,000 are authorized to carry weapons, a Scotland Yard spokesman said, speaking anonymously under police rules.

This shooting was a tragedy, but in a country where sudden and tragic attacks are occurring, there are going to mistakes in the police response, especially if someone appears to be acting suspiciously. Given the multi-cultural nature of London, it's very likely that the police will be dealing with people who don't understand what's going on or have difficulty communicating with them. That's a recipe for shootings like this.