Picture the scene - 7 days ago 4 psycho freaks blew up 3 trains and a bus killing dozens of people in the centre of London. We are still in the midst of mass hysteria and the majority of people in the country are jumping at their own shadows - paranoia is rife.
Our thoughts drift to a suspected suicide bomber who is under surveillance. Armed police follow this suspect to Stockwell tube station and fearing he will detonate a bomb, shoot him.
Now, I agree it is a tragedy that it turns out an innocent person was killed, and I sincerely feel for his family. However, we do tend to forget the context. I am not trying to claim I know what happened - I don't know why he wasn't stopped before he entered the station and I don't know if he was asked to stop. The bottom line is that the police HAD to treat him as guilty as they would all suspected bombers as they couldn't risk another massive loss of life.
It seems to me that in this situation it is wrong to try and apportion blame. It was the first terrorist attack on London since the IRA ceasefire (for which the police generally got warnings) and the terrorist attack on the WTC. It was a new procedure and all new procedures are prone to mistakes.
Let the police learn the lessons from the incident - and yes, if they are repeated in the near future, by all means sack someone. But give them the chance to learn the lessons first!
The upshot of all this is really to beg the media and the public to ALWAYS keep events within the context in which they occurred.
We were all scared of anyone who looked a bit Muslim at the time - and what if the police HAD been right? They'd all have got medals... You can't have your cake and eat it! Sorry!!
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