Mark Duggan Revisited
Back in August I wrote a piece about a fatal shooting of the above named man.
In the light of recent events with death of two unarmed police officers in Manchester this week, it goes some of the way to explaining the attitude of police in armed situations. My argument was that police were effectively unaccountable for their actions during armed response call outs. This may be still so.
However when events like that of this week past rear heir ugly heads it is useful to counter my previous argument with the fact that Police can be a target for violent crime and as such have a right to self defense. The two murders are a very isolated and extreme example of the violence laid at the police's door. But potentially this could happen to any officer
Perhaps when a serious threat to an officer can be assessed and recognized (ie an arrest of a person involved in gun crime) there is an argument for getting your retaliation in first.
An armed response for the event in question may have ended in the same deaths so I guess I shouldn't be so hard on the police if, in order to protect their safety they go in a bit mob handed.
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