Well I don't want to stir things up any more than I already have by posting this in the first place... but I'm still uncomfortable about the idea of shooting somebody 7 times in the head at close range. Does that show control... or does it show a total lack of control in the response? If you're going to stop a suicide bomber, one shot to the head should be enough surely, maybe 2 or 3 to make sure, but by the time the 7th bullet's gone in, aren't you acting purely on emotion? I've never had to shoot somebody in the head, so naturally I can't see it from the perspective of somebody who has, but I'm still uncomfortable about it.
There is a case in the States where an offender was shot in excess of 30 times before he finally went down.
I can't go into IED dynamics but all ability to carry out a thought process of detonation has to be stopped.
In relation to 'feeling uncomfortable' with 7 shots being fired, what difference does it make? 1 or 7, the result is the same. If you feel uncomfortable, think about the poor sods who pulled the tiggers.
Again, I'll refer you back to my first response to this post. I did not stop hitting the guy until I was certain he was not going to be able to pull a weapon on me. Did I hit him a couple of times and stop, assess and think "Ok, what the heck, I'll hit him a few more times"? No. I reacted as my training had taught me.
Are we all sitting down 'feeling uncomfortable' about the terrorist who died as a result of his injuries he received after he tried to blow up Glasgow Airport? I for one am not.
The Press had a field day with that and we all lapped it up.
If the guy who was shot had been a bomber, we'd all be saying "Brilliant, well done Old Bill, only 7 shots? I've have put more in him".
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. If we were able to use it, would the World be in the screwed up state that it now is? I somehow doubt it.
Maybe I'm coming across as a tad cold and emotionless on this matter, but it is now history. Learn from it as much as we can, as there are far more urgent and pressing things for the Police to be doing, like trying to stop the next attack.
So Thermidor, you carry on feeling uncomfortable, and my colleagues will carry on trying to do a difficult job, made more complicated by a wimpish Government who are more worried about pandering to vote winning causes, than starting to get hard on these murderers who want to rip our country apart.
