ARMED police are vital to protect us from violent criminals. But there must of course be scrutiny when they wound or kill a suspect.
As it stands, though, that system seems skewed against them, hammering morale and causing a recruitment crisis.
Cops volunteer for these dangerous roles. Yet they live in constant fear of unfair prosecution, of a social media backlash, of human rights groups campaigning against them and of investigations — into a single split-second decision taken under immense stress — hanging over them for years.
They feel they are punished from the instant they pull the trigger.
Often they are put through the wringer three times: An inquest. A criminal probe. Even if exonerated by both, they can still be fired for “misconduct”.
The worry could even cause them to hesitate in action . . . just long enough for a villain to kill a bystander.
No wonder Met Chief Mark Rowley reckons his frontline officers would rather shoot a terrorist than a gangster. It’s just more clear-cut.
The interviews on Pages 12 and 13 bear witness to how seriously gun cops take their responsibilities and how traumatised they are by having to take a life.
But the accountability process seems designed to find fault and cost them their job. That is not fair. Understandably, it is deterring recruits.
Unless a better balance is struck, that can only leave us all less safe.
FORGIVE us not popping champagne corks over the Government’s “roadmap” to a new era of nuclear power.
Yes, those plants will be essential to get to Net Zero. Wind and solar won’t suffice.
But when Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho announces “the biggest expansion in nuclear power for 70 years” she needs a reality check.
Her first plant doesn’t even have a site yet. It will take many years to plan, finance and build. And Labour is no better. They didn’t build one in 13 years.
On nuclear, both main parties have been an abject failure.
WE’VE seen some puerile tantrums from MPs but Chris Skidmore takes the biscuit.
The ex-Tory eco zealot quit in a fit of pique — after Rishi Sunak backed climate realism over fantasy — forcing a pointless by-election just a few months before the nation goes to the polls.
Since his Kingswood constituency is being scrapped, his protest will cost taxpayers an estimated £250,000 . . . to elect a replacement for a few months.
Why didn’t he just stand down at the election? Presumably because he couldn’t wait to start a lucrative career aboard the Net Zero gravy train.
What a disgrace.
