Police Chiefs: Shoot-to-kill tactic still viable

Police are to continue their shoot-to-kill policy when tackling suspected suicide bombers.

Chief constables declared the tactic acceptable yesterday after a review prompted by the killing of an innocent Brazilian man in London.

Metropolitan Police officers shot Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station in south London in the mistaken belief that he was a suicide bomber.

The police approach to suspected suicide bombers, which is part of the Operation Kratos rules, includes the tactic of shooting them in the head without warning.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said: “A review of the UK police service’s response to the threat posed by suicide terrorism has deemed it fit for purpose.”

But Acpo and the Metropolitan Police await a report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) on why the tactics went disastrously wrong on July 22 last year when Mr de Menezes was shot.

In its report on the review, which is published today, Acpo acknowledges that the public has to be persuaded of the merits of Operation Kratos. It recommends that “the strategic policy and principles for countering the threat of suicide terrorism should be clearly articulated in a document available to the public [and] that the police service engage closely with communities in developing suicide terrorism policies”.

It adds: “Following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on Sept 11, 2001, the police service examined its strategy to combat the increased threat of suicide bombing, resulting in a policy drawn up by Acpo and adopted by all forces.

“Acpo’s Police Use of Firearms Committee reviewed this policy for countering the threat of suicide terrorism following the July 7 bombings in London, and the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. The review has been carried out with participation from the IPCC.”

Sir Chris Fox, the Acpo president, said: “I am pleased that the existing policy has been deemed fit for purpose and we now await any IPCC recommendations. The police service has an overriding duty to protect life, and occasionally force is used. Very rarely officers, in order to save life, may have to take life.”

Lawyers for the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent Brazilian man who was shot dead on the London Underground last year, have condemned the report backing the police shooting policy for dealing with suspected suicide bombers.

A new review by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said its plans for dealing with suspected bombers were “fit for purpose”.

But lawyers for the de Menezes family criticised the review, calling for an independent inquiry, and accused Acpo of trying to pre-determine the outcome of an inquiry into the mistaken shooting.

Sir Chris Fox, president of Acpo, said: “While we await the IPCC findings of their investigation into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes to decide if the policy needs to be revised further, we felt it necessary to be sure we have tactics available to us that we can use in the face of extreme threat and this review was therefore undertaken.

“Police officers faced with a threat have to identify and assess the threat and manage it.”

He added: “Very rarely officers, in order to save life, may have to take life.”

But the de Menezes family’s lawyers said it was “no coincidence” the police decision was released on the same day that a television programme on the shooting and police policy was broadcast.

The statement said: “Until Jean Charles de Menezes was deliberately killed, no one knew that police in this country had secretly introduced for themselves, without any democratic debate or approval, a ’shoot to kill’ policy.

“Now Acpo seeks to reinstate the secret policy publicly before any inquiry into the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes is completed, confident that police can hide behind the claim that a criminal investigation is still under way.”

John Steele