Thursday, November 17, 2005 :
Intelligence?
There was an interesting and moving programme on last night on BBC1 about the London bombings on 7 July 2005. I was slightly concerned about Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair’s comment to the effect that when he was informed that something was going on, “like everyone else” he “switched on Sky” to find out what was happening. One would have hoped that Sky would be getting their information about these sorts of events from, among others, the police, rather than the other way around. Slightly worrying to think that the police should be “like everyone else” in this respect.
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A comment I heard (re: the shooting the other day) was that "you have to remember that the police are just citizens in uniform"... I understand the sentiment here but if I was to go onto a tube and shoot someone would I not be locked down for the rest of my life? no matter who told me to do it? not exactly citizens on patrol in every respect. g:
... the police are just citizens in uniform," is clearly a comment not supported by former Met Police chief Lord Stevens. Who in this BBC news article suggests that murdering someone who you knew to be a police officer was different from all other murders and should result in the death penalty. "You are not just killing an individual, you are attacking everything they represent." I'm not a big fan of former leaders of public bodies touting their snap reactions to delicate situations that require a considered and cohesive response from the current leadership.
That statement from Lord Stevens is egregious. It just doesn't make sense to me that the punishment should be worse for killing a police officer than a civilian. The death penalty is either right, or it isn't. It is either right to deter people from murdering other people, or it isn't. Whether the victim is a police officer or a little old lady or a baker or a paedophile makes no difference.
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