Anti-Terror Raid, Some Thoughts
The Evening Standard has a report on the cost of the anti-terror raid at Forest Gate. It apparently cost £2.2 million. I had a number of thoughts when I read this article.
My first thought was that people would not be complaining if there had been a chemical weapon in the house, no matter how much it cost to raid.
The second was when I read a quote from Damian Hockney, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority. He said: "I believe that the Met have learned lessons from it, but it needs stressing that the size and cost of future operations must be proportionate." I was left trying to figure out what exactly is proportionate and who would decide that? And, furthermore, since when was proportionality necessary when trying to stop terrorism. That same accusation of "disproportionality" that wasleveledd by the world against Israel is coming back to haunt us in out own struggle against terror.
Further in the article it was revealed that over £90,000 was spent on putting the families of the innocent parties up in hotels. Apparently, the families insisted that Holiday Inn wasn't good enough and they needed to be upgraded to a 4-star hotel.
The article also reports: Following their release, the two terror suspects made a series of extravagant financial demands from the Met, including a request for an ex-gratia payment of £10,000 for 'contingencies and financial commitments'.
Through their lawyers, they also asked the Met to pay mortgage interest on their home, give a £200 clothing allowance to each member of the family and pay the costs of putting the family's cat in boarding kennels. This is besides the £500,000 each they are seeking in compensation.
Am I alone in thinking that if the police are to get sued every time they investigate an innocent man that we will have an extreineffectivective police force?
It should also be noted, that one of the men has been charged with child pornography offences based on the contents of a computer seized during the raid. And that they are binvestigatedgated for benefit fraud after £30,000 cash was discovered during the same raid.
