So What Were the Police Supposed To Do?
28 September 2007
On Wednesday night, a policeman shot a man who was damaging vehicles in Christchurch. The policeman had been threatened with a hammer. As usual in cases like this, the family and friends of the man say that he shouldn't have been killed.
The police have a hard job to do. We expect them to go in to dangerous situations when the rest of us are trying to flee. As far as the policeman knew, he was dealing with a hammer-wielding nutter, and the policeman's life was in danger. He did what most people would do: he shot the man. That course of action was the right one.
The friends and family of the man need to realise that the police do not have time to find out about the person's background and the events leading up to the situation. The policeman reacted to what he saw happening at the time. While it is sad that the man died, we cannot blame the police for it.