Jean Charles de Menezes was a man shoot killed by the Metropolitan Police at the London Underground station after he was misidentified as one of the suicide terrorists involved in the previous bombing attempts. These events took place after the London bombings in which many people died. After this mistaken shooting of innocent person, Operation Kratos, a ‘shoot to kill’ policy created to combat the suicide terrorism, was suddenly exposed to the intense public debate and criticism of the media. We need to consider whether it is possible to achieve a balance between liberty, security, and police accountability when combating with difficult terrorist incidents.
In the wake of devastating terrorism, the Metropolitan Police set up a working…show more content… It is more aggressive policy, but in theory it ensures that we can respond the crime more effectively. What is more, it prevents other people from such a big danger. However, since the introduction of Operation Kratos, traditional reactive and reasonable policing style is changing to a proactive, military and oppressive approach which tends to overlook civil rights and make more mistakes. Therefore, in practice it increases the risk of innocent people become victims. In order to protect the society from a big harm caused by terrorism, we need to choose between the death of hundreds people or the death of one person. Therefore, using this policy, it may be impossible to retain a balance between liberty of one person and safety of the other people, because we need to choose between…show more content… Everyone's right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.
However, it does not provide complete protection, because there are circumstances in which the deprivation of life may be justified.
2. Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary:
a. in defence of any person from unlawful violence.
In this situation the police officer’s aim is to rescue other people from unlawful violence, and the killing is merely a consequence of using a necessary amount of force. Therefore, such exceptional circumstances are covered by the law, which permits the use of lethal force. It is the duty of the police to protect a person’s right to life, hence situations of killing innocent people create a lack of confidence and wariness of the police. People cannot feel secure, because every citizen may become a victim of the