Armed policeman stabbed as area too busy to shoot

[TSwizzle]

A few members may have trouble getting their head around this;

A firearms officer sustained four stab wounds in a frenzied attack rather than shoot his assailant in a busy city centre street, MSPs have heard.

They would have been justified in shooting him but they feared a bullet would go through him and hit a member of the public, Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins told the committee.

Scotsman

"Despite being stabbed four times, despite suffering a frenzied attack, both officers still used their professional assessment and their judgement.”
Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins


I fear heads may explode.

 

[ksen]

Probably not the heads you'd expect.

We want police to use professional assessment and judgment instead of going in guns blazing. These two did the right thing.

 

[Underseer]

A few members may have trouble getting their head around this;

A firearms officer sustained four stab wounds in a frenzied attack rather than shoot his assailant in a busy city centre street, MSPs have heard.

They would have been justified in shooting him but they feared a bullet would go through him and hit a member of the public, Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins told the committee.

Scotsman

"Despite being stabbed four times, despite suffering a frenzied attack, both officers still used their professional assessment and their judgement.”
Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins


I fear heads may explode.

Ah ha!

This definitively proves that all those other allegations of police brutality are false! Those liberals claim that we live in a police state because they hate our freedom!

 

[bilby]

Note that the officer concerned is a specialist 'firearms officer' - explicitly trained to make such judgements. Officers who do not have that level of training are not permitted to carry guns at all in Scotland.

Note also the tone of the article makes it clear that the Scottish public are alarmed by the sight of police officers patrolling with firearms - even holstered firearms - and are deeply concerned because the proportion of 'firearms officers' to ordinary police (who do not carry guns) is increasing.

In the US, a cop is not a cop, unless he has a badge and a gun. In the UK, a cop is a cop if he has a badge; and a gun is a specialist tool issued only to those who have demonstrated proficiency, and who have been trained to consider the protection of the public above their own safety when considering whether or not the use of lethal force is appropriate.

This is not rocket science.