THE SNP’s deputy leader has claimed Police in Scotland should “shoot-to-kill” in the event of a terrorist attack.
Stewart Hosie told the BBC that his party would not take the same line as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who said he was “not happy” with police operating a shoot-to-kill policy.
Hosie told Good Morning Scotland: “If a terrorist runs down Sauchiehall Street, God forbid, or Whitehall, with a Kalashnikov, and a police officer has a split-second decision to make, then the choice in terms of public safety is very clear.
“I think if someone is posing a real and immediate risk to the lives of many hundreds or thousands of people, then of course one has to trust the police to take the necessary action.”
He added: “We have seen the news reports from Saint Denis this morning. These people won’t be arrested. One of the people who was subject to the police investigations this morning blew herself up with a suicide belt.
“There is no negotiating with someone who has a suicide belt strapped to them, who is prepared to fire hundreds of rounds at civilians.
“Split-second decisions require to be made and we all hope they are the right ones, but I certainly would trust the police in those circumstances.”
Calum Steele, of the Scottish Police Federation, effectively the trade union of the rank-and-file officers, said Hosie’s comments were “particularly unhelpful” and accused the MP of raising tensions and bringing “additional and unnecessary emotion into what is by any measure a difficult topic.”
He added: “Fewer than two per cent of the police service in Scotland is routinely armed. They are highly skilled, highly trained and we should allow them to use their professional judgement without interference from politicians.”
Currently, there is no blanket shoot-to-kill policy in the UK. Guidelines issued by the College of Policing say in most cases, armed officers should “strike the central body mass,” but be prepared to fire “critical head shots when responding to the most extreme threats if there is no alternative.”
Simon Chesterman, the country’s lead officer for firearms policing, said: “We do not shoot to kill, we shoot to stop the threat, but inevitably this is very likely to prove fatal.”
Police Scotland said their policy had not changed in the wake of Friday’s attacks.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “We have a highly trained and highly professional police service who operate on the basis of not using force wherever possible and taking a preventative approach to policing.
“Where there are life and death situations, however, it is absolutely right that our police have the operational ability to use reasonable force, up to and including lethal force where life is at risk and where acting in that way is necessary to save lives. Our police officers, in those thankfully rare situations, will often have to make split-second life-or-death decisions and it is important that we back and support them in doing that.”
Corbyn’s position on shoot to kill was attacked by members of his own party at their Monday night meeting. Corbyn backtracked on his position, saying he supported “the use of whatever proportionate and strictly necessary force is required to save life in response to attacks of the kind we saw in Paris.”
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