Appropriate and proportionate?

Jock — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:49:36 +0000

'All hell broke loose': Oxford graduate held at gunpoint by police | UK news | The Guardian

An innocent traveller who was detained by police at gunpoint in a case of mistaken identity has described how he "stepped off the train and into a really bad dream". Nzube Udezue, a 21-year-old recent graduate from Oxford University, was ordered to the ground, handcuffed and arrested by a team of armed police officers at Bournemouth station on Saturday, in front of dozens of fellow travellers.

I suppose being black and under retirement age might be seen as unusual in Bournemouth, but just imagine one twitchy finger amongst the firearms unit?

Nonetheless I have never understood why there is no legal redress to being treated like this as an innocent person by the state. Some of these incidents seem horrendous - like that British Asian pilot who was paraded naked around JFK airport or wherever it was shortly after 9/11.

Was there no other way this poor chap could have been ruled out as the suspect without all this potentially lethal kerfuffle? Did he present an obvious and immediate danger by his behaviour, or luggage or something? Could not following him home and checking the electoral roll perhaps suggest that he was not the wanted person?

Whilst I do not agree with Peter Hitchens (sorry - if you are not a subscriber you won't be able to read the whole of this correspondence)about bringing back the death penalty, I do tend to agree with him that the powers and weapons we have given to the police create an atmosphere in which extra-judicial executions are more likely.

Do we all live but a hair-trigger away from being the next Jean Charles de Menezes?

If we had ID cards to "prevent terrorism" would these nice officers of the law have bothered politely to ask to see his ID card before pinning him to the floor? I doubt it - "operational expediency" covers a multitude of abuses.

surveillance state

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Appropriate and proportionate?