A View From Middle England - Conservative with a slight libertarian touch - For Christian charity and traditional belief - Free Enterprise NOT Covert Corporatism

Thursday, November 01, 2007

High cost of justice

The Metropolitan Police have today been found guilty of endangering the public over the shooting dead of a man officers mistook for a suicide bomber. Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead (in front of others!) at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July 2005. Officers fired at de Menezes seven times.

The police have been fined £175,000 and ordered to pay £385,000 in costs. The whole trial cost £3.5 million in public money. All because they dug their heels in and wouldn't admit to making a mistake.

Surely we can live in a society where it is possible to admit mistakes for the sake of everyone. Or are we doomed to see every single organisation hide behind weasel words and expensive lawyers, all claiming to have "robust" measures in place?

Let's hope the Metropolitan Police and the chief himself, Sir Ian Blair, will spend a night reflecting. And a good night it is to reflect, being that it is All Saints Day!

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