Dean Joseph was shot dead by police at his former partner’s Islington home in September 2014. Since then the police have shot dead five people. Of them, James Fox was killed at his Enfield home in September 2015. The inquest into his death has just opened. Richard Davies was killed at his St Neots home in October 2015, and James Wilson was killed at his South Shields home in April this year. In all these cases concerns about the mental health of the deceased had been raised.
Politicians and chief constables across the country claim that fighting terrorism justifies ever more armament and ever more powers for the police. But, as highlighted yet again by the fatal use of a Taser on Dalian Atkinson at his father’s Telford home (Tributes to ex-Villa star after Taser death, 16 August), cases where poorly informed police resort to the heaviest weapon to hand in domestic settings are more common. We must remain vigilant that the clamour for anti-terrorist action does not worsen the danger posed to vulnerable people by an overweening police.
Mary Pimm and Nik Wood
London
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