Seems the police are going to have to do a lot of explaining for this one.
Oh...CO19 should be SO19 I believe.
----

http://www.itv.com/news/index_1677571.html
ITV News has obtained secret documents and photographs that detail why
police shot Jean Charles De Menezes dead on the tube.

The Brazilian electrician was killed on 22 July, the day after the series of
failed bombings on the tube and bus network.

The crucial mistake that ultimately led to his death was made at 9.30am when
Jean Charles left his flat in Scotia Road, South London.

Surveillance officers wrongly believed he could have been Hussain Osman, one
of the prime suspects, or another terrorist suspect.

By 10am that morning, elite firearms officers were provided with what they
describe as "positive identification" and shot De Menezes eight times in the
head and upper body.

The documents and photographs confirm that Jean Charles was not carrying any
bags, and was wearing a denim jacket, not a bulky winter coat, as had
previously been claimed.

He was behaving normally, and did not vault the barriers, even stopping to
pick up a free newspaper.

He started running when we saw a tube at the platform. Police had agreed
they would shoot a suspect if he ran.

A document describes CCTV footage, which shows Mr de Menezes entered
Stockwell station at a "normal walking pace" and descended slowly on an
escalator.

The document said: "At some point near the bottom he is seen to run across
the concourse and enter the carriage before sitting in an available seat.

"Almost simultaneously armed officers were provided with positive
identification."

A member of the surveillance team is quoted in the report. He said: "I heard
shouting which included the word `police' and turned to face the male in the
denim jacket.

"He immediately stood up and advanced towards me and the CO19 officers. I
grabbed the male in the denim jacket by wrapping both my arms around his
torso, pinning his arms to his side.

"I then pushed him back on to the seat where he had been previously sitting.
I then heard a gun shot very close to my left ear and was dragged away onto
the floor of the carriage."

The report also said a post mortem examination showed Mr de Menezes was shot
seven times in the head and once in the shoulder, but three other bullets
missed, with the casings left lying in the tube carriage.

Police have declined to comment while the mistaken killing is still being
investigated.

Morton wrote:

CO19 should be SO19 I believe.

The Force Firearms Unit was moved from Specialist Operations to the new
Central Operations a few months ago. Specialist Operations units have
'SO' designations (like SO16 Diplomatic Protection Group and SO18
Aviation Security) while Central Operations units have 'CO'
designations (like CO13 Mounted Branch and CO15 Traffic). Thus SO19
became CO19.

I believe the change was made because CO units are meant to be central
units supporting officers elsewhere in the Met, while SO units are
meant to deal with specialist types of crime. The Force Firearms Unit
is clearly the former rather than the latter because it doesn't
investigate a specialist type of crime (i.e. gun crime), it assists
other units in dealing with a range of firearms and violence related
problems (for example, it helps out the SO13 Anti-Terrorist Branch
dealing with terrorism, SCD8 Trident/Trafalgar dealing with gun crime,
SCD1 Homicide dealing with gun murders and so on).

Other Central Operations units include: Traffic and Transport Branch,
Air Support Unit, Dog Support Unit, Marine Support Unit, Public Order
and the Mounted Branch. Central Operations does not yet have a public
website, and the MPS website still makes numerous references to the
system as it worked before the changes.

Remaining Specialist Operations units include: SO12 Special Branch,
SO13 Anti-Terrorist Branch, SO14 Royalty Protection, SO16 Diplomatic
Protection Group, SO17 Palace of Westminster Division, SO18 Aviation
Security. All the other numbers are no longer in use because the units
they referred to were moved, either to the Specialist Crime Directorate
(SCD) or to Central Operations.

Just to keep this slightly on topic, the Transport Operational Command
Unit which deals with buses, taxis and minicabs is part of the Traffic
and Transport Branch within Central Operations.


Matt Ashby
www.mattashby.com

If this is the case (and I'm always wary of the media when they
"uncover
secret documents") then the police appear to have been somewhat gung ho
to say the least. And how many bullets in the head does it take to kill
someone when you're firing at point blank range and they're
immobilised?
Why 10 bullets for gods sake?? Also if they are immobilised you can
possibly see if they have a trigger in their hands and if not why shoot
them?
After all, if the bomb is on automatic then killing the bomber won't
stop it
going off. All very strange.

B2003

Matt - this is something I'm very interested in but as you say the
Metpolice website is still showing the old setup (They had David Veness
down as SO ACC for a couple of months after he'd left!) Is there any
online resources giving more uptodate info?

It is indeed "Strange" Boltar.....
I was in London on the day of this chap`s ..........Killing.....and I too
heard at first hand the Police description of their operation.
It is fair to say that they were portraying it as a Definite score against
the original terror cell.
My partner was immediately sceptical and focused on certain words in the
early announcements which were less than solid in their meaning.
As the evening wore on and indeed the following days it became apparrent
that Mr De Menenzes had indeed been "Executed" by the Police.
The poor fellow is dead and so beyond worrying about these things,however as
my partner,who has two adult offspring living in London,rather appositely
pointed out..."It could easily have been my children".
For whatever reason the Metropolitan Police operation revolving around Mr De
Menenzes residence failed in ALL of its operational requirements and this
presents a very worrying scenario for ALL UK citizens and visitors.
From the small amount of hard information which is being reported in the
media the Police enquiry appears to be missing some pertinent CCTV footage
of the actual despatch of the Brazilian.
However the officers who actually took part in the "Suppression" of their
Target are a far better source of information than any CCTV will ever be.
The Acid Test will be whether any of these Officers will be self-confident
and of sufficient moral-fibre to stand up in open court and admit to a
failure to adhere to the laws of Humanity rather than the laws of
Parliament.
The sad end of Mr Menendez has probably achieved far more for Terrorist and
Anarchist groups than ten London Bombings put together because it displays a
somewhat uncomfortable realization that Mr Menendez`s described "Look of
Terror" as he was about to be killed was no different to the "Look of
Terror" that the doomed victims of the original Bombers as they detonated
their weapons.
The Government and the Police really have to come back to the Population
with a Full Account of the Menendez operation and it would help re-establish
public trust and confidence if they were to do this voluntarily rather than
have each and every detail dragged forcibly from the depths of their
"System".
Strange does`nt even begin to describe it.

Alek wrote on Wed, 17 Aug 2005
The Government and the Police really have to come back to the
Population with a Full Account of the Menendez operation and it would
help re-establish public trust and confidence if they were to do this
voluntarily rather than have each and every detail dragged forcibly
from the depths of their
"System".

The IPCC are in the process of compiling this report. I'm sure we all
have lots of questions that want answering. But I'm not even going to
mention my own here, as I don't want to do anything to encourage another
long long thread that's very heavy on opinion and conjecture but very
short of fact. It would also imo be improper for the government or
police to try to pre-empt this report by releasing any information,
officially or leaked, at this stage.

There are going to be very vehement and informed noises from all sides
when the report does come out. If the report or the information on
which it is based appears lacking, those noises can be all the more
vehement. In the meantime, I'm just mentally tagging all the things
which do need explaining, including the who and why of the current leak.
--
Iain Archer To email, please use Reply-To address

"kytelly" wrote in message
oups.com...
Matt - this is something I'm very interested in but as you say the
Metpolice website is still showing the old setup (They had David Veness
down as SO ACC for a couple of months after he'd left!) Is there any
online resources giving more uptodate info?

Andy Hayman is showing as AC of SO:
http://www.met.police.uk/about/leadership.htm

Well put, Sir.

Yeah they've changed it now but it was still there for at least three
months after he went off to be head of UN security