[Mb-civic] Shoot to Kill - Editorial - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

<>Shoot to Kill
Wednesday, August 10, 2005; Page A16

THE HORRIFIC shooting last month in London of an innocent Brazilian man, 
Jean Charles de Menezes, gives a chilling edge to guidance issued only 
days earlier by the International Association of Chiefs of Police about 
confronting suicide bombers. The guidance adopts a looser attitude 
toward the use of deadly force: In suicide bombing cases, officers 
should use force not only when the threat of someone's death is imminent 
but when they have a "reasonable basis to believe that the suspect has 
the capability to detonate a bomb." And when they need to shoot, 
officers should aim "at the bomber's head." British police, who chased 
Mr. Menezes into a subway car, jumped on him and then shot him 
repeatedly in the head, behaved much as the guidance suggests, under a 
similar British order -- the result being the death of a bystander.

A London-like disaster here, much as Americans might hope otherwise, is 
no longer unthinkable. For possible suicide bombing cases, U.S. Capitol 
Police officers have been retrained to shoot at the head as well. The 
idea is that when bombers have explosives strapped to their chests, a 
disabling shot to the torso is not a viable option. It can detonate 
volatile explosives or it can leave the bomber alive and capable of 
detonating them himself. Tasers can also set off the bomb. So if lethal 
force is necessary to stop a suicide bomber, it has to be a killing shot 
away from the torso -- that is, a shot to the head.

But as the London tragedy shows, accurately identifying a suicide bomber 
with split-second timing is difficult. And shoot-to-kill mistakes are 
irreversible. The guidance from the police chiefs organization, citing a 
number of characteristics, profiles a likely suicide bomber as someone 
wearing "heavy clothing no matter what the season," walking robotically 
with the appearance of drug use, carrying a backpack and making evasive 
movements, or "keeping a hand in the pocket." Washingtonians frequently 
see homeless or mentally ill people who meet this description. And like 
Mr. Menezes, such people might run from police rather than stop.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/09/AR2005080901220.html

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