Drizzt
Member
St. John's Telegram
January 16, 2003 Thursday Final Edition
SECTION: News; Pg. C9
LENGTH: 682 words
HEADLINE: Officer's death rekindles firearms debate: Many say it's time to arm all police officers in Britain
SOURCE: The Canadian Press
BYLINE: Kevin Ward
DATELINE: LONDON
BODY:
LONDON -- Det. Stephen Oake is the latest, and in some ways, most unlikely victim in the war on terror, a plainclothes policeman killed in a knife attack during a counter-terrorism raid where no danger was apparent.
In death, the 40-year-old father of three has become a symbol in Britain of the need for increased vigilance as police sweep the country searching for those involved in the manufacture of the deadly poison ricin.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the slaying of Oake, an officer he knew from his work on the prime minister's protection detail, is evidence of the need to wipe out extremism. "We've got to make sure that these groups of fanatics, who have no compunction in taking human life and who have no demands that any political system could possibly accede to, are defeated," Blair told the House of Commons.
"The only way to defeat them is to make sure we give every support to the security services and the police in the difficult and dangerous work that they do."
Just what support police might need as they detain suspects under Britain's tough counter-terrorism laws was at the forefront of the debate in the aftermath of Oake's slaying.
Some asked Wednesday whether it is time for all police officers in Britain to be issued firearms. A television poll on Sky News indicated public opinion was running 4-1 in favour of arming the police.
"The murder will, of course, raise serious questions about police procedure in detaining suspects in such cases -- specifically, it may well lead to the provision of more armed police," said London's Evening Standard newspaper in its lead editorial.
"But this killing will also provoke hard questions about the nature and extent of the danger within the heart of our society that is posed by the existence of the extremist Islamicist groups who may be linked with terrorist organizations. That danger seems now more widespread than we had imagined."
CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER SCRUTINY
The circumstances of Oake's death were also under scrutiny amid fears the officers weren't properly equipped for an anti-terrorism operation.
Police said there would be an inquiry into the procedures used in the arrests after it emerged that none of the three suspects detained by police at a house in north Manchester had been handcuffed despite being in custody for an hour before the knife attack occurred.
As police conducted their investigation in the apartment, it appears one of the men broke free, grabbed a large knife from the kitchen and went on a frenzied attack, injuring four officers and killing Oake, who wasn't wearing body armour.
"There was no perceived risk," explained Michael Todd, Manchester's chief of police.
Oake is believed to be the first police officer killed in an anti-terrorist operation on mainland Britain for more than 10 years.
During the raid, police didn't find any ricin, a strong poison extracted from castor beans that is now at the centre of the latest terrorist threat to hit Britain.
The discovery of traces of ricin in north London earlier this month and subsequent arrests relating to its discovery have been used by the authorities to underline the danger al-Qaida poses.
Outwardly, there are no signs of anxiety caused by what sometimes seems like a drum beat of terrorist warnings, possibly because fears about terrorism are not unusual in Britain after the Irish Republican Army's bombing campaign on the mainland through the 1990s.
Still, government statements on terrorism can sometimes be unsettling, dating to November when Home Secretary David Blunkett was criticized after his department bluntly warned of the risk of a chemical or nuclear attack.
The warning, which was withdrawn by the government and rewritten, initially said al-Qaida could use a so-called dirty bomb or poison gas to strike British cities.
Oake's death has shown just how determined some terrorist suspects can be, said Conservative Leader Iain Duncan Smith, who described the officer's death as a "wake-up call to the nation, reminding us all of the increased threat we now face."
January 16, 2003 Thursday Final Edition
SECTION: News; Pg. C9
LENGTH: 682 words
HEADLINE: Officer's death rekindles firearms debate: Many say it's time to arm all police officers in Britain
SOURCE: The Canadian Press
BYLINE: Kevin Ward
DATELINE: LONDON
BODY:
LONDON -- Det. Stephen Oake is the latest, and in some ways, most unlikely victim in the war on terror, a plainclothes policeman killed in a knife attack during a counter-terrorism raid where no danger was apparent.
In death, the 40-year-old father of three has become a symbol in Britain of the need for increased vigilance as police sweep the country searching for those involved in the manufacture of the deadly poison ricin.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the slaying of Oake, an officer he knew from his work on the prime minister's protection detail, is evidence of the need to wipe out extremism. "We've got to make sure that these groups of fanatics, who have no compunction in taking human life and who have no demands that any political system could possibly accede to, are defeated," Blair told the House of Commons.
"The only way to defeat them is to make sure we give every support to the security services and the police in the difficult and dangerous work that they do."
Just what support police might need as they detain suspects under Britain's tough counter-terrorism laws was at the forefront of the debate in the aftermath of Oake's slaying.
Some asked Wednesday whether it is time for all police officers in Britain to be issued firearms. A television poll on Sky News indicated public opinion was running 4-1 in favour of arming the police.
"The murder will, of course, raise serious questions about police procedure in detaining suspects in such cases -- specifically, it may well lead to the provision of more armed police," said London's Evening Standard newspaper in its lead editorial.
"But this killing will also provoke hard questions about the nature and extent of the danger within the heart of our society that is posed by the existence of the extremist Islamicist groups who may be linked with terrorist organizations. That danger seems now more widespread than we had imagined."
CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER SCRUTINY
The circumstances of Oake's death were also under scrutiny amid fears the officers weren't properly equipped for an anti-terrorism operation.
Police said there would be an inquiry into the procedures used in the arrests after it emerged that none of the three suspects detained by police at a house in north Manchester had been handcuffed despite being in custody for an hour before the knife attack occurred.
As police conducted their investigation in the apartment, it appears one of the men broke free, grabbed a large knife from the kitchen and went on a frenzied attack, injuring four officers and killing Oake, who wasn't wearing body armour.
"There was no perceived risk," explained Michael Todd, Manchester's chief of police.
Oake is believed to be the first police officer killed in an anti-terrorist operation on mainland Britain for more than 10 years.
During the raid, police didn't find any ricin, a strong poison extracted from castor beans that is now at the centre of the latest terrorist threat to hit Britain.
The discovery of traces of ricin in north London earlier this month and subsequent arrests relating to its discovery have been used by the authorities to underline the danger al-Qaida poses.
Outwardly, there are no signs of anxiety caused by what sometimes seems like a drum beat of terrorist warnings, possibly because fears about terrorism are not unusual in Britain after the Irish Republican Army's bombing campaign on the mainland through the 1990s.
Still, government statements on terrorism can sometimes be unsettling, dating to November when Home Secretary David Blunkett was criticized after his department bluntly warned of the risk of a chemical or nuclear attack.
The warning, which was withdrawn by the government and rewritten, initially said al-Qaida could use a so-called dirty bomb or poison gas to strike British cities.
Oake's death has shown just how determined some terrorist suspects can be, said Conservative Leader Iain Duncan Smith, who described the officer's death as a "wake-up call to the nation, reminding us all of the increased threat we now face."
