British police stand by suicide bomb policy

LONDON, Mar 8: A review into British police procedures for dealing with a suspected suicide bomber following the fatal shooting of an innocent Brazilian man last year has found no reason to change the policy, police said today (Mar 8, 2006).

Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead last July as he boarded a train at Stockwell underground station after police mistook him for a suicide bomber.

The shooting came a day after four men had failed in an attempt to bomb the London underground network and two weeks after four men killed themselves and 52 others in a suicide attack.

Police today said they had reviewed their policy and said it was ''fit for purpose'' however they said it could be changed at a later date following a separate investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into the Menezes shooting.

''I am pleased that the existing policy has been deemed fit for purpose and we now await any IPCC recommendations,'' Chris Fox, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said in a statement.

''Police officers, faced with a threat have to identify and assess the threat and manage it.

''They must then use only such force as is proportionate in the circumstances, which may be negotiation or the use of force.

Where it is absolutely necessary, lethal force might have to be used.'' The review also said the principles for countering the threat of ''suicide terrorism'' should be produced in a document available to the public and added that police should engage with communities to ensure the policies were understood.

Police were heavily criticised following the Menezes shooting, and leaked evidence from the IPCC report has claimed there were major errors in the operation.

The IPCC has submitted its full report to prosecutors to consider whether any officers involved should face criminal action. But details have not been made public.

ACPO said they produced a strategy for dealing with suicide bombers following the attacks in the United States on September 11 2001.

This was then reviewed after July 7 when four Islamist suicide bombers blew themselves up on three London underground trains and a bus, killing 52 people.

REUTERS