Barrister Mark Saunders shot dead by police in Kings Road (2008). Inquest update

[miss minnie]

Cost and inconvenience should never be a factor in deciding how to resolve such a situation other than in truly exceptional circumstances.

The public purse is not bottomless so surely cost is always going to be a factor?

 

[JWH]

There was that incident in Hackney years ago (maybe 10 or so?) where the police stuck to the letter of their protocols and procedures resulting in an armed siege that cost the taxpayer £11m and took well over a week to resolve (without shots fired iirc).

That doesn't sound that expensive. IIRC (from a man down the pub etc so don't quote me), a fatal RTA costs a million quid. A coroner's inquest won't be cheap either. I wonder if it would be possible to calculate whether it would in fact have been cheaper (obviously ignoring the legality and ethics of it for the sake of hypothetical inquiry) to the taxpayer to have shot everyone on the first day - probably not.

 

[miss minnie]

That doesn't sound that expensive. IIRC (from a man down the pub etc so don't quote me), a fatal RTA costs a million quid. A coroner's inquest won't be cheap either. I wonder if it would be possible to calculate whether it would in fact have been cheaper (obviously ignoring the legality and ethics of it for the sake of hypothetical inquiry) to the taxpayer to have shot everyone on the first day - probably not.

It was only the one guy holed up in a flat on a council estate.

 

[detective-boy]

The public purse is not bottomless so surely cost is always going to be a factor?

It's a factor, sure ... but if the option is spend money / disrupt people's routine or go for a high-risk rapid entry or similar tactic involving serious risk to the officers as well as to the subject then there is no way in a million years it should be the determining factor. If cost / hassle is the only factor suggesting a rapid entry or similar tactic then I would suggest it should not be undertaken. I for one would not like to be explaining to next of kin / Coroner that the reason we went storming in and ended up killing the subject was "because money's a bit tight at the moment, we couldn't hang around for ever you know ..." or "do you realise that thousands of people are having to spend an extra 20 minutes on their commute every day because the main road is closed - we have to think of them too you know ...".

 

[detective-boy]

... an armed siege that cost the taxpayer £11m ...

I'd love to know how they worked that cost out!

We had a small seige near here in Kew recently where two burglars took refuge on a roof and refused to come down (until one of the tossers managed to fall off ... ). It lasted a few hours and according to reports cost £25k in police, fire (for turntable) and ambulance (in case) services. As someone wrote in the local paper, the vast majority of resources used would have been on duty and being paid for anyway, with no additional cost incurred in back-filling by bringing in additional staff to cover for the resources used so whilst there may be an opportunity cost there certainly wasn't a real cost as in someone writing out a cheque.

 

[miss minnie]

I'd love to know how they worked that cost out!

We had a small seige near here in Kew recently where two burglars took refuge on a roof and refused to come down (until one of the tossers managed to fall off ... ). It lasted a few hours and according to reports cost £25k in police, fire (for turntable) and ambulance (in case) services. As someone wrote in the local paper, the vast majority of resources used would have been on duty and being paid for anyway, with no additional cost incurred in back-filling by bringing in additional staff to cover for the resources used so whilst there may be an opportunity cost there certainly wasn't a real cost as in someone writing out a cheque.

Actually it looks like my bad memory inflating the cost... after googling it looks like it was between a half and one million. (I also forgot that there was gunfire, the guy apparently shot himself.)

Commander Bob Quick said from the scene that the bill for his force alone was between £250,000 and £500,000.

They had to deliver food to the gunman over some 9 days, evacuate neighbours, engage utility companies to switch off services, all of this over the christmas period.

 

[dylanredefined]

That guy shot himself in the end So they might as well have stormed the place had it over in an hour.Your waving a gun around threatening to shoot people.I think that's all
the justification you need to use force.If they have hostages its a different matter on their own storm the place.Its what their trained and equipped to do.