Intelligence

Yard officer admits 'shoot to kill' error

London bombs terror attack The Times and Sunday Times Times Online

By Jenny Booth and agencies

Scotland Yard’s so-called "shoot to kill to protect" tactic to deal with suicide bombers should have been disclosed to the public much earlier, a senior officer said today.

Assistant Commissioner Stephen House was outlining changes to the force's anti-terror strategy at a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), which oversees the work of the Met.

The tactic involves police marksmen shooting a suspected suicide bomber in the head with no warning to stop them from detonating their device. It was developed as part of Operation Kratos, the Yard’s strategy to counter suicide terrorists.

The public became fully aware of the tactic's existence only after it was controversially put into practice on July 22 at Stockwell tube station, when armed police officers shot Jean Charles de Menezes seven times in the head. The 27-year-old Brazilian electrician was afterwards found to have no connection with terrorism.

The tactic has been heavily criticised by the de Menezes family, and as a result was being debated at today's MPA meeting. Mr House told the authority that the British public should have been told much earlier, as Kratos was being developed.

"I take on board the criticism that this should have been public knowledge beforehand," said Mr House, who has been overseeing an inquiry to learn the lessons from the disastrous Stockwell operation.

"There is no criticism of anyone involved in the development of Operation Kratos. But now that it has been called into action as a result of the developments, the public must be aware of what's going on."

Earlier, Sir Ian Blair, the Met Commissioner, reminded the meeting that Kratos was developed in response to a new and unprecedented threat, from "circumstances that had never before occurred in the western world, with failed suicide bombers on the loose".

Mr House said that as a result of the shooting of Mr de Menezes, a number of changes had been made.

"We have now moved the responsibility for Operation Kratos from the specialist operations under Andy Hayman, to central operations under myself," he told the authority.

"The sole reason is to allow it to be more openly available. Specialist and anti-terror operations are necessarily surrounded by a certain secrecy."

Three new tactics had been developed for use in combating suicide terror threats, code-named Andromeda, Beach and Clydesdale, he said. "These tactics were not in use in July, they have been developed as a result of that."

The vocabulary used by officers commanding different sections of the anti-terror response had been standardised, so that everyone knew what the others were talking about, he said. Staff had been trained in the new tactics and vocabulary.

The Met says that its tactic does not amount to a "shoot to kill" policy, and that it is consistent with laws governing the use of "reasonable force". Sir Ian has previously described it as the "least worst option" for dealing with suicide bombers.

Today's report says: "It is essential that the Metropolitan Police have tactics available for the defence and protection of officers and the public in proximity to the threat.

"This is not a ‘shoot to kill’ policy. The tactics are wholly consistent with Section 3 Criminal Law Act, which says ‘A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in the effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large’.

"This is well articulated in the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms.

"It should be noted that there is no legal requirement for an officer to give a verbal challenge before firing and the Acpo Police Use of Firearms manual acknowledges that there are occasions when it is not appropriate or practical to do so."

The death of Mr de Menezes is the subject of an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Despite the tragedy, opinion polls have shown that most people are in favour of the use of deadly force against suicide bombers.

This week Mr House said the "shoot to the head" tactic could be used in other "extreme" scenarios where someone was on the brink of being murdered.

He said it could potentially be used in a kidnapping or stalking case where the victim had a gun pointed at their heads and the suspect was threatening to kill.

The July 7 bombings in London, which killed 52 innocent people, were the first ever suicide attacks on British soil.

Since the second wave of attempted bomb attacks which failed on July 21, the Yard estimates it has had more than 1,000 reports from the public of suspected suicide bombers. Armed response officers were sent out six times and the Kratos operations team alerted 11 times. All the incidents were resolved safely.

October 27, 2005 at 12:53 PM in UK | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home