old policy of aiming at torso doesn't work against new threat, police
chiefs group says"
Joanne Laucius and Aron Heller
The Ottawa Citizen - Friday, August 05, 2005
http://www.canada.com/components/printstory/printstory4.aspx?id=b8319d66-2df2-4e1c-b57c-35e824e91dac
The International Association of Chiefs of Police has issued new
guidelines for confronting a suicide bomber -- including a recommendation
that the officer aim for the suspect's head.
Usually police officers, including those in Canada, are trained to aim
for the "central body mass" or torso. But in the case of a suicide
bomber, that's inappropriate for two reasons, say the guidelines. One, the
shot may only wound the bomber. Two, the shot could hit and set off the
explosive device.
The guidelines from the International Association of Chiefs of Police,
which has 20,000 members including about 300 in Canada, are the first
from a major police body based in North America.
"Compared with other nations, such as Israel and Russia, the United
States has been spared the horror of frequent suicide bombings," said an
introduction to the guidelines. "However, depending on developments in
the war on terrorism and related matters, this situation could change.
Embedded cells of militants with international ties to terrorism, as
well as domestic terrorists, pose the potential for suicide bombings and
other attacks."
Police chiefs are not required to adopt the guidelines. However, the
release underscores a new awareness in North America of the threat of
suicide attacks -- and raises the same questions that were raised in
London last month after an innocent man was shot five times in the head.
Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician whose student visa had
run out, was killed in a subway station after armed plainclothes
officers mistakenly pegged him for a suicide bomber. Mr. Menezes ran away
when he was challenged by police, who then used Scotland Yard's
controversial shoot-to-kill policy, which calls for five shots to the head.
Sgt. Serge Robitaille, a spokesman for the RCMP training academy in
Regina, said there is currently no suicide bomber component of police
training for the RCMP.
The Mounties use the "incident management and intervention model" which
recommends the use of a continuum of force from speaking to suspects
and moving around the scene to lethal force.
If officers must shoot, they are advised to trike the "centre of mass"
which stretches from the waist to the neck.
"You don't have the luxury of hitting a smaller target like a hand,"
said Sgt. Robitaille.
However, if the suspect is wearing body armour or if shooting the
centre of mass fails to stop the threat, an officer may aim for the head.
Under the Criminal Code of Canada, officers must be able to justify the
amount of force they use, added Sgt. Robitaille.
John Thompson, a terrorism expert at the Mackenzie Institute in
Toronto, said police officers in Canada already learn all the techniques they
need to know "for the moment."
Some specialist officers should know about how to shoot a suicide
bomber, but it's not necessary that all police know the technique, he said.
Aiming for the head in the case of a suicide bomber is not a difficult
technique to teach an officer who is already trained.
"Police are already allowed to shoot to kill under specific
circumstances," he said. "It's just a different threat."
Contacted yesterday, Ottawa police Chief Vince Bevan said he not seen
the guidelines. The Ottawa Police Service is part of the International
Association of Chiefs of Police, but has received no new information and
Ottawa's policy remained unchanged, he said.
"If you determine you have to shoot someone, either in defence of your
life or in defence of others, we don't shoot to wound someone," he
said.
When asked if that meant to shoot to kill, Chief Bevan replied: "We
shoot to disable the threat."
He added that anything the International Association of Chiefs of
Police said was not necessarily binding for the Ottawa police.
"It's not an edict they issue. They make policy suggestions," he said.
"We're satisfied that the use of force policies that we have in place
would apply to a situation such as that."
Israeli security experts are acknowledged as the leaders in managing
incidents involving suicide bombers. Often, these incidents are resolved
without any injuries to anyone, including the bomber.
Ze'ev Schiff, a leading Israeli military and security affairs
commentator, argues that solid intelligence is the most effective way to stop
suicide bombers.
Suspected terrorists are often more valuable alive than dead, and
shooting them should only be used as a last resort, he said. If Israeli
officers are forced to shoot, they shoot for the head.
"If it is obvious he is going to explode, then you have to shoot to
kill," he said. But "we have caught people in order to get information."
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