In The City

"In the city there's a thousand men in uniform
And I've heard they now have the right to kill a man"
The Jam - In The City

The recent shooting in Stockwell has left me in two minds. My libertarian side baulks at the concept of armed police and yet this scenario is not black and white. The death of this man is a tragedy for his friends and family, but also a tragedy for the police who shot him. They made a tough call in a split second. To take someone's life in the belief that it would save others must be hard enough to do but at least it can be rationalised later. But to find out that you got it wrong and that an innocent man is dead. Well that's a hell of a burden to live with.

I find myself erring on the side of protecting the many by sacrificing the rights of the few, even if that is the right to life. I do not believe that anyone has the right to commit mass murder. If the only way to stop them is to kill them then so be it. Do two wrongs make a right? I don't know - there will be a lot of people on the left shifting uncomfortably in their seats right now.

What I do know is that if I saw someone trying to kill one of my loved ones I would do whatever was necessary to stop them - yes even I'd take their life.

Hopefully I'll never be in that situation and thankfully I'm not a copper.