Shooting at Parliament

PiperCub

I agree with Brian , that security was poor and sadly I think the officer died as a result.

They would have had surveillance to quickly warn but clearly that didn't happen.

After 7/7, joe cox murder and the terrorist incidents around Europe, its inconceivable that police officers are not all armed around Westminster. Not necessarily a heckler and Koch weapon, but at the very least a hand gun. This is something the police will have to look at

Werewolfs

I am definitely no expert in security matters but how scenes are interpreted and acted on in the few seconds/minutes as they play out must be horrendous. Even with the amounts of training they receive. Who's to say the person waving the knife had not just disarmed someone and was running towards the police to hand it in.
The police are damned sometimes if they do or if they dont act.

PiperCub

I think they dropped standards because nobody from the public should have even got anywhere near a police officer coming 'off the street' at a gate. I do agree the situation must be horrendously difficult to interpret what to do, but an officer guarding a gate should not get close to an intruder for risk of being stabbed. Anyone who breaches a gate at Westminster approaching upon an officer, should have a weapon drawn against them and expect that.

Bl4ckGryph0n

Any tourist worker school children walking past everyday of the week get close enough to smell their aftershave. Are you seriously suggesting the exterior cordon should be made bigger and we can't walk past the Houses of Parliament and any of the other buildings in Westminster whitehall etc.

I think it is a gross overreaction for what is a very rare event.

Sonic67

If it's the gate I think it is, I've been through it. Members of the public can visit the commons etc. You go into an area where you are checked for weapons then go through.

The policeman probably had an anti-stab vest and the usual police stuff. If the guy had his knife hidden and apparently he went for the head and neck, he could just have easily have taken his gun if he had one.

Until you know what is going on you aren't going to react and I assume he wasn't running at them waving a knife in the air at first.

When all is said and done the attacker had a knife. If the policeman knew he was being attacked with someone with a knife, they do carry enough to deal with that. He probably didn't know. He spends a typical day, every day, dealing with MPs and the public. You don't expect stuff like this to happen and you don't expect it to happen to you.

The other guys in the area, once they saw the attack, then knew, so they fired.

PiperCub

No it was at a gate not in the situation you indicate. I foresaw this response.

If anyone breaches a gate they deserve to be treated as an aggressor. Just like at a checkpoint to an air base etc.

Sonic67

Might do some good. While the MPs were cowering in the House of Commons, and are now praising the police for putting themselves in the line of fire and for using lethal force to stop someone, they might in future be a little less keen to want to jail someone in the armed forces who had to make a life or death decision in a war they sent him to.

Might mean they might be tougher over Islamic extremism, or throw a bit more money at treating those with mental health issues.

Sonic67

If you just breach a gate or climb over a fence you can also assume they might be a Sun journalist "testing" the security, or a guy who's had a bit to drink and forgot his ID or some nutter doing it for a dare to impress his mates or a civvy who doesn't know any better.

Once the guy is killing someone that's different.

Bl4ckGryph0n

My apologies if my original response came across as overly strong. I was there last night with former colleagues for a preplanned due and met several coming back after a long day late at night. The amount of ongoing rehearsal and training, and not to mention numerous thwarted attempts that never make the news should not be underestimated.

lucasisking

Eh?  All the reports I heard suggest the police/ armed response dealt with this incredibly swiftly.