I'm awaiting the full report before passing final judgement, but it would take a plot twist in the Fight Club league to make the police come out of this looking good at this stage.
Tipf for not getting shot by the London police the day after a terrorist incident:
1) Pause for a few minutes when you leave the house. This will give the police surveillance team time to stop pissing about (literally) and video you. There's then a fighting chance that 'it might be one of them' won't become 'we've got a positive ID; it's Osman Hussain' by the time you've got to the tube. Don't count on it, though. 2) When you get to the tube, don't pick up a copy of The Metro, as the action of stopping and picking up a free newspaper can look remarkably like the action of vaulting over the ticket barriers, when viewed from a certain angle. Apparently. 3) Don't run for the tube. No one ever does that, so you're just marking yourself out as a suspect. (Actually, this is the one piece of advice I'd give seriously; running for the tube isn't usually a good idea; there will always be another one along soon, and it increases the chance that you'll trip and put yourself or other people in danger.) 4) If someone shouts 'Police!' at you, on no account stand up and start to walk over to them. This is very threatening behaviour, and scares them. It's far better to run off in the other direction - that's what most of the eye witnesses will claim you were doing anyway. 5) Go naked. That way they won't assume you've got a bomb under whatever light summer clothes you're wearing.
I still, for the record, think that by and large the London police did and continue to do a great job after the attacks. This, however, was not an example of it.
no subject
I'm awaiting the full report before passing final judgement, but it would take a plot twist in the Fight Club league to make the police come out of this looking good at this stage.
Tipf for not getting shot by the London police the day after a terrorist incident:
1) Pause for a few minutes when you leave the house. This will give the police surveillance team time to stop pissing about (literally) and video you. There's then a fighting chance that 'it might be one of them' won't become 'we've got a positive ID; it's Osman Hussain' by the time you've got to the tube. Don't count on it, though.
2) When you get to the tube, don't pick up a copy of The Metro, as the action of stopping and picking up a free newspaper can look remarkably like the action of vaulting over the ticket barriers, when viewed from a certain angle. Apparently.
3) Don't run for the tube. No one ever does that, so you're just marking yourself out as a suspect. (Actually, this is the one piece of advice I'd give seriously; running for the tube isn't usually a good idea; there will always be another one along soon, and it increases the chance that you'll trip and put yourself or other people in danger.)
4) If someone shouts 'Police!' at you, on no account stand up and start to walk over to them. This is very threatening behaviour, and scares them. It's far better to run off in the other direction - that's what most of the eye witnesses will claim you were doing anyway.
5) Go naked. That way they won't assume you've got a bomb under whatever light summer clothes you're wearing.
I still, for the record, think that by and large the London police did and continue to do a great job after the attacks. This, however, was not an example of it.