Shooting To Kill?

Peter Squires

• 12 maart 2010
• 9780470779279

Samenvatting:

* Provides a review of key developments in armed responsepolicing around the world * Describes the crucial phases in armed response policydevelopment in Britain and explores the consequences of arming thepolice * Reflects upon the issues arising when police action goes badlywrong.

In a few terrifying moments at the Stockwell Tube station in 2005, eight shots fired by armed police officers ended the life of an innocent Brazilian, Jean Charles de Menezes. This incident resulted in the termination of a cautiously developed compromise regarding the arming and deployment of police officers, and the ‘rules of engagement’ within which they operated. The Independent Police Complaints Commission subsequently called for a thorough and wide-ranging public debate about the police use of firearms in the UK.

Shooting to Kill? Policing, Firearms and Armed Response represents a valuable contribution to this ongoing debate. The authors combine their expertise to identify the key drivers of police armed response policy. They identify the historical phases in the police use of firearms, showing how policing in a 'gun culture' and the post-9/11 era have come to shape contemporary police paramilitarism, and exploring the contradictions and ambiguities this presents for armed response policy and practice. Finally, by addressing six controversial police armed response case studies – including an in-depth analysis of the Stockwell shooting – the authors draw out the broader tensions, uncertainties, and dilemmas that arise in this most difficult and controversial area of policing.

Both provocative and timely, Shooting to Kill? Policing, Firearms and Armed Responseprovides readers with a wealth of information for reflection and consideration about how choices made now will affect a twenty-first century world.

• Offers the first critical exploration of the ACPO code of guidance on Police Use of Firearms and other tactical manuals
• Includes interviews with senior police firearms managers and critical case studies of police firearms incidents
• Features the first in-depth, academic analysis of the Stockwell shooting incident and the Kratos policy
• Provides a review of key developments in armed response policing around the world
• Describes the crucial phases in armed response policy development in Britain and explores the consequences of arming the police