Lethal force needed to stop bombers

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: Eyewitness reports of the shooting dead of a man by London police in Stockwell tube station yesterday suggest that he was shot repeatedly in the head at point-blank range.

Under the normal "rules of engagement" for armed police operations, police officers when discharging their weapons are very much constrained by the concept of minimum force.

That is to say, police officers who discharge their firearms during the course of their duties must only do so when they believe there is a clear and imminent risk to their own lives or the lives of members of the public.

In such circumstances, when confronting a suspect they believe to be armed, police are trained to give clear verbal warnings of their intention to open fire - and if forced to do so in order to prevent loss of life are trained to aim for the trunk or torso, what the police and military refer to as "the centre of the visible mass".

Police and security forces in countries such as Israel however, who have been confronted with repeated suicide bomb attacks in recent years, have evolved a new and more lethal standard operating procedure (SOP).

According to this procedure, the concept of minimum force is replaced by one of maximum or lethal force.

In order to effect such lethal force - required to prevent the detonation of explosive devices by a bomber who is merely injured - experience has shown security forces in such circumstances that one or more shots to the head of a potential suicide bomber is required to ensure their instant incapacitation.

In order to guarantee two shots to the head - a small and highly mobile target that is difficult to hit - police in such circumstances are trained to fire as many shots at the head as possible in rapid succession.

If eyewitness reports of yesterday's shooting prove to be accurate, it may be the case that British police have been forced to adjust their rules of engagement to mirror those in use in the Middle East.

Dr. Tom Clonan is a retired Army officer. He lectures in the School of Media, DIT.