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| Officer fears repeat of Menezes | |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| An innocent person could be shot dead by police again, a senior officer has admitted at the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes. | An innocent person could be shot dead by police again, a senior officer has admitted at the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes. |
| Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick said police aimed to minimise the risk to the public. | Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick said police aimed to minimise the risk to the public. |
| But Ms Dick, who was in charge of the operation on the day Mr de Menezes was killed, said this could be done only to a "less than perfect extent". | But Ms Dick, who was in charge of the operation on the day Mr de Menezes was killed, said this could be done only to a "less than perfect extent". |
| Mr de Menezes, 27, was mistaken for a suicide bomber and shot dead in 2005. | Mr de Menezes, 27, was mistaken for a suicide bomber and shot dead in 2005. |
| The Brazilian was shot seven times in the head at Stockwell Tube station in south London on 22 July 2005, by police who believed he was failed bomber Hussain Osman. | The Brazilian was shot seven times in the head at Stockwell Tube station in south London on 22 July 2005, by police who believed he was failed bomber Hussain Osman. |
| 'High risk' | 'High risk' |
| Michael Mansfield QC, counsel for the de Menezes family, asked Ms Dick if such an incident could happen again. | Michael Mansfield QC, counsel for the de Menezes family, asked Ms Dick if such an incident could happen again. |
| "I'm afraid, sir, I do believe that this or something like this could happen again. The nature of these operations is that they are incredibly high risk to all concerned," she said. | "I'm afraid, sir, I do believe that this or something like this could happen again. The nature of these operations is that they are incredibly high risk to all concerned," she said. |
| "And that is because of the nature of the threat that we face from suicide terrorists, and the difficulty that there is in dealing with such a threat and the very fast timescale in which these things can happen." | "And that is because of the nature of the threat that we face from suicide terrorists, and the difficulty that there is in dealing with such a threat and the very fast timescale in which these things can happen." |
| She added: "Our job is to reduce the risk to everybody as best as we possibly can all the time. That is what we set out to do. | She added: "Our job is to reduce the risk to everybody as best as we possibly can all the time. That is what we set out to do. |
| "But I do fear that in the future a bomber might not be prevented from setting a bomb, and there would be a huge scrutiny of why we did not manage to prevent that. | "But I do fear that in the future a bomber might not be prevented from setting a bomb, and there would be a huge scrutiny of why we did not manage to prevent that. |
| "And equally, I pray it doesn't happen, but it is possible that an innocent member of the public might die in circumstances like this. | "And equally, I pray it doesn't happen, but it is possible that an innocent member of the public might die in circumstances like this. |
| "Our job is to minimise the risks. Given the huge scale of the risks, we may only be able to do that to a less than perfect extent." | "Our job is to minimise the risks. Given the huge scale of the risks, we may only be able to do that to a less than perfect extent." |
| 'Full responsibility' | |
| Ms Dick responded to allegations that she told another senior officer that the first hour of the operation had been "appalling". | |
| "You can't get everything in terms of planning right immediately so there is always a period of needing to get the structure right," she said. | |
| Ms Dick denied that either she or Scotland Yard had a problem with admitting that things went wrong. | |
| "I regard myself as somebody who will always take full responsibility for what I have done. I will be quick to say if I think I have done something wrong," she said. | |
| Ms Dick was asked about the failure of a firearms team to go to a block of flats linked to Osman in Tulse Hill, south London, where Mr de Menezes lived. | |
| Mr Mansfield said: "I am going to ask you - I'm afraid it will be a repeated theme - there were serious breakdowns in communication at the very least on that night." | |
| She replied: "I don't know that, sir... If that is what happened, then that sounds like a miscommunication." | |
| Ms Dick was the designated officer for Operation Kratos, the Metropolitan Police's codename for special tactics to deal with a suicide bomber. | Ms Dick was the designated officer for Operation Kratos, the Metropolitan Police's codename for special tactics to deal with a suicide bomber. |
| The day before Mr de Menezes was fatally shot, four suicide bombers tried and failed to set off explosions on London's public transport network. |