Police watchdog says it's OK to shoot arsonists - just bravado?

THE POLICE can lawfully shoot arsonists, its watchdog has said. And officers could have used rubber bullets or water cannons during the summer rioting, a report by the Inspectorate of Constabulary has concluded. But commentators warn it's a worrying and dangerous suggestion and that improved policing is a better solution.

Need for mature debate

It's a delicate area, writes Danny Shaw, Home Affairs correspondent for BBC News, but the inspectorate is trying to be realistic and encourage a mature debate on these issues. "If there's mass disorder again, and police can't respond in huge numbers, other tactics should be considered to restore order and prevent loss of life."

Dangerous suggestion

This is crazy, says Jenny Jones from the Metropolitan Police Authority, according to a report in the Daily Mirror. "Endorsing the use of live ammunition is an approval of the tactics of war on London's streets and implementing such recommendations would be madness," Jones says.

It's very worrying, says Professor Gus John of the Moss Side Defence Committe (MSDC). "In the Northern Ireland situation, there was clearly a military operation," says John. But there is no such situation in Britain. "What one should be looking at is how the community and the police engage in such a manner that you do not have these things happening".

Lily livered policing costs lives

Let's not forget that five people were killed in the summer of feral madness, says Nick Wood also in the Daily Mail. The miracle is that not more people perished. "Lily-livered PC policing cost lives in August and led to much suffering and billions of pounds of damage."
   
I don't know about shooting rioters threatening the lives of innocent people, adds Wood. "But I can say that our police have a lot of work to do to restore their reputation in the eyes of the public."

More visible policing the answer

Shooting rioters is not the answer, says an editorial in the Daily Mail. Of course, the Inspectorate of Constabulary is merely restating the existing law that offers any British citizen a defence for killing, when it is the only way to save an innocent life. But by issuing this disingenuous threat, the Inspectorate is indulging in "provocative" and "counter-productive" bravado, "unworthy of the British police force's tradition of restraint".

Lack of police was to blame, full stop, adds the Mail. "In the vital first few hours, when the contagion could have been stopped, officers simply stood back and observed." To avoid a repetition of those ugly scenes, we need "more robust, visible workaday policing" backed by consistently firm sentencing. ·