On Apr 18, 12:08*pm, wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
That's not to say that I endorse how more regular day-to-day policing
happens, but the notion that the Met are out there shooting innocent
people all the time is just plain daft and does nothing to help the
credibility of any argument - yet it is a point people make over and
over again. The Met's armed response units are out on the street 24/7,
they are unfortunately called out to particular incidents far too
often, and yet I understand it's far from common for them to pull a
weapon on anyone, and they hardly ever actually fire a shot.

Indeed. *I forget exactly, but I recall reading that in the last 10
years or so they've (the Met) only shot 10 innocent people (or was it
20?). I never recall hearing, however, how many gun waving criminals they
managed to shoot in the same timespan. It'd be an interesting
comparison -- anyone got any accurate data?


Ten!? I don't think so. If we're going to have a discussion on this
topic then the least we could do is base it on accurate information.

Off the top of my head this is what I can think of - de Menezes of
course; Harry Stanley, the guy who had the table leg wrapped in a
plastic bag that police erroneously thought was a gun and who was shot
dead in Hackney; one of the men in the Forest Gate terror raid where
no terror was found who was shot in the arm and lived; the man who was
shot dead in Brixton because police mistook the gun-shaped cigarette
lighter he was holding for the real thing.

One could arguably look at the Stockwell and Forest Gate situations
somewhat separately from the others - that's absolutely not to excuse
them whatsoever, but they do not fall into the bracket of normal day-
to-day policing.

With regards to the incident in Brixton, I'm afraid to say that I can
see why it unfolded as it did.

The ten figure that you've come across might be some national figure
perhaps?