Met chief faces grilling on 'shoot to kill' orders

Gaby Hinsliff and Mark Townsend
Sunday September 11, 2005
The Observer


Police chief Sir Ian Blair faces a fresh grilling over who sanctioned the controversial 'shoot to kill' policy against suicide bombers, as the first high-level inquiry into the London Underground bombings begins this week.

MPs are to question the Metropolitan Police commissioner - alongside Home Secretary Charles Clarke - over who cleared the change in tactics that led to the shooting of an innocent young Brazilian mistaken for a terrorist suspect.

They also want to know why the public was not made aware of such a drastic change in policy, and are expected to demand the release of the still-unpublished guidelines surrounding Operation Kratos, the codename for plans to tackle suicide bombers.

Relatives of Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician who was shot by armed police as he boarded a train, are expected to attend the public hearing, organised by the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, as observers. His parents, who live in Brazil, plan to visit London this month to pay their respects at the site of his death and have sought a personal meeting with Sir Ian.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1567297,00.html

was sanctioned before Ian Blair became Met commissioner, around six months after 9/11 according to different accounts but while John "News of the World" Stevens was still commissioner whenever it was. Blair might have sanctioned its use during the recent crisis, but he didn't put it in place.

The policy would have been sanctioned at ministerial level too, not just adopted ad-hoc by police without approval.

"The policy would have been sanctioned at ministerial level too, not just adopted ad-hoc by police without approval."

I always found Tony Blair's comments on this quite interesting. He doesn't seem to think it's a big deal.


Putting aside the questionable reasoning he uses in the first paragraph (deadman triggers), his dismissive air is astonishing to me.

With regards to the inquiry the real issue is not who or when the policy was implemented but rather why no-one, neither the public or parliament seemed to know anything about it.

"Jeremy Browne, a Liberal Democrat member of the committee, said he also planned to press Blair at Tuesday's hearing on why there was no public consultation over the new tactics.

'The fact that the police can decide for themselves to have the ability to shoot people who have not committed any offence, without being subject to parliamentary overview and guidance, is a concern,' he added."

Just "a concern". Could he have come up with a weaker, more spineless, more grovelling term? The LibDems living down to their third way standards yet again, I see.