Bag's Rants

Interesting Theory. Look at the facts.

A study from the US tries to explain what happens when police kill. Read here.

It's all to do with reaction times and memory under stress which leads to itchy trigger fingerslack of remembering and how fast people can move. I can understand that people move quickly and can change aspect relative to a policeman but it does kind of reinforce the fact that they are nervous and shooting early at the slightest move rather than waiting to see what the suspect is doing. To be honest I don't blame them. I'd hate to be in that situation. However, they are highly trained and paid to do that. If I did it I would go straight to jail no matter what the provocation. It makes you think though. Was Tony Martin just slow on the trigger and Barras turned quickly? Funny that. Facts show Barras was shot in the back and Tony Martin went straight to jail.

What this article doesn't explain is why nobody has been prosecuted at all or why we still insist on doing these no knock invasionswarrants. Even the most innocent person is going to be panicking when a bunch of unidentified stormtroopers enter a house at 4 AM. Where sudden movements equals a bullet we should not be blaming the officer involved but the strategy employed. Maybe the study could help Cory Maye. Somehow I doubt it.

But overall it does put things into perspective. Police are nervous going in, bloody obvious statement, and will have very light trigger fingers, unfortunately the public are going to be just as nervous and good and bad people are going to be moving around panicking. There really needs to be another way of doing this. The number of innocents killed during an armed arrest must be out of all proportion to the risk to a police officer. It must be worth an investigation into alternative methods of arresting these people. Why an immediate confrontation when conditions are not right? Maybe more stakeouts and sieges where it would be easier. I would imagine no knocks are only for hostage situations not drug raids.

I particularly liked the comment 'The CPS has said it will take this into consideration in future cases. ' WTF. It's not like they can let any more off. It just means they now have a nice study to refer to and support them when they let them off.

Now I'll leave you with a single question;
How far did Jean Charles De Menezes run or move while seven bullets were fired into his head?

posted by Bag @ 4:10 pm