Shoot to kill questions remain unanswered

The review of Operation Kratos by the country’s top cops would not stop another innocent person becoming a victim of the shoot to kill policy, according to Jenny Jones, a Green Party member of the London Assembly and the Metropolitan Police Authority.

Responding to the review by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), Jenny Jones, said:

"This review of the shoot to kill guidelines deals with who makes the decisions and the process of how those decisions are communicated, but nowhere does it discuss why an officer is actually pulling the trigger. Chief Constable Barbara Wilding, the main architect of the Operation Kratos policy, has stated that this policy was not designed for situations like those which led to the death of Jean Charles Menezes. The police have to face up to the fact that something is seriously wrong with a policy when the first time it is used in a crisis situation, an innocent person dies."

"I welcome the police’s commitment to public debate about the guidelines and reforms, such as the tightening up of fire arms training. Neither myself, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, nor any other Londoner wants to see a repeat of this shoot to kill tragedy. We therefore need a proper discussion which explores the circumstances in which an order would be issued and the questions which officers would have to ask before pulling the trigger."

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