- The organisation that represents police chiefs around
the world published a report recommending that suicide bombers be shot
in the head two weeks before Metropolitan police officers killed an innocent
man at a London underground station.
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- The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)
produced the guidelines on tackling suspected suicide bombers on July 8.
Two weeks later, officers from the Met repeatedly shot Brazilian electrician
Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell station after mistaking him for a
suicide bomber.
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- The shooting of Mr De Menezes, seven times in the head
and once in the shoulder, provoked international concern over the Met's
so-called shoot-to-kill tactics when dealing with potential suicide bombers
in public places.
-
- However, the IACP's report indicates widespread international
agreement on dealing with new forms of terrorist threat. The president
of Britain's Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), Chris Fox, and
his Brazilian counterpart, Paul Roberto d'Almeida, both sit on the IACP's
international policing steering committee.
-
- The report carries detailed information how to identify
and disable a suspected suicide bomber. Indicators of potential bombers
include heavy clothing whatever the season, walking with an unusual gait
or showing signs of irritability, sweating or tunnel vision, it says.
-
- If lethal force is justified for stopping suspects, the
guidelines state that the usual police tactic of shooting at the torso
is inappropriate when dealing with suicide bomb suspects, in case the bullet
detonates the explosive.
-
- "Hence, if lethal force is justified, all shots
should be aimed at a bomber's head - specifically, at the tip of the nose
when facing the bomber, at the point of the ear canal from the side, or
about one inch below the base of the skull from behind," the guidelines
state.
-
- Acpo consults internationally and takes on board policing
guidelines produced by the IACP, a spokeswoman said today. Acpo's policies
must fit into the UK's legal framework, she added.
-
- Mr De Menezes, 27, was shot dead the day after four would-be
suicide bombers tried to blow up three tube trains and a bus in London.
He was tailed by Met officers with the aid of the newly formed special
reconnaissance regiment, after he emerged from a south London property
under surveillance in connection with the attempted attacks.
-
- An inquiry has been set up to investigate the circumstances
that led to the shooting amid conflicting reports about whether Mr De Menezes
tried to flee when officers moved to arrest him. He had outstayed his visa
by two years, the Home Office said last week.
-
- Tony Blair and the Met commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, have
both apologised for the mistake and police representatives have been negotiating
compensation with the family of Mr De Menezes.
-
- His killing provoked condemnation in Brazil. Julio de
Souza, the mayor of Mr De Menezes' home town, Gonzaga, described the death
as an "assassination". Over 6,000 mourners attended his funeral
last week.
-
- Acpo guidelines state that "police officers will
shoot to immediately disable and remove the threat to their lives or those
of other members of the public".
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2005
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/st|
ory/0,16132,1542743,00.html
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