Friday 3 July 2015

Ordeal by duty - Trial by Jury

  BBC online News:

Met Police officer Anthony Long cleared of Azelle Rodney murder


I think this calls for The Bard: 


"But soft, what glint through yonder carboot breaks? It is the east, and firearm is in the sun. Arise, fair sidearm, and kill the envious perp, Who is already sick and pale with grief That I, Met Pol, art far more skilled than he."

(Hat tipped to my friend, David Kenneth Ellis, for the Shakespearean form)

Thursday 2 July 2015

Killing Sprees at home and abroad



The Met's ct exercise appeared to go well. They picked a lovely day for it. Always good to do, these exercises.

Outside London it's worth remembering previous experiences. Eg. Michael Ryan (Hungerford), killed 16 people and injured a further 15 at random in under an hour, including the first police officer on scene. With that rifle, if he could see you he could hit you. A neighbour just asked me about police response times to such incidents and if there were sufficient officers. I said a force has, on average, less than 5% trained for firearms duties. She replied, "but we never see any police patrols anyway".

I told her not to worry. Rule 1, reassure the patient. :-/

 As for the Tunisia atrocity, that country was not on my list of desirable holiday destinations yet it doesn't surprise me when tourists flock to these places as I suspect many/most never consider the political and other tensions in a potential destination like I do. But I blame myself for this, as my entire working life was, in some way, touched pretty much weekly by risk assessments and planned ops to counter the threat of terrorist activities, so it has become part of my make up. I'm not paranoid but I am thoughtful about such things. I'm sure that some people will give the risk some thought (particularly now) but may well still conclude that in the bigger scheme of things, the risks are probably very low....probably.

But there's always the `six degrees of separation` theory to consider. E.g. One of the injured of the Tunisia killings works for the Norfolk (UK) police. The ex wife of my friend, former neighbour and  colleague of mine now works for the Norfolk police. So does their daughter. I have known them all since 1980. They both know the man who was injured in the attack. So it transpires that I know someone who knows a victim of last weeks terrorist attack where 30 of my fellow citizens were murdered. And now you are connected too, because you know me, albeit through this irregular blog. What are the chances of that happening, eh?