You only have a taser, you are up against a gunman, the media are watching you. What face do you do for the cameras?

http://i.imgur.com/Nhb0J.png

Without even clicking on that link, I know exactly which photo you mean.
It's been on the BBC news website for the last day.

+1 And there are already quite afew shops of it.

I find it funny the press are looking at how the Polcie handled this. The Police's main problem was pandering to the media.

The situation was blown out of all proportion because of this, too many resources used (RAF jet and NI armoured vans anyone?), when he was not threat to the public at large.

Well, he was no threat until he got wound up by what the media was saying. Now, who should be to blame for that?

In the quest for filling papers and 24 hours a day of, well, something, the press and media created a situation which caused the public to become threatened. How this is getting overlooked I have no idea.

The problem is that the police have spin doctors who smear the innocent to be able to justify their actions. Remember the raid on the muslims in east london. The police stated that they found child porn (none was found), terrorist literature (none was found) and that they reacted in self defence (the police were the ones who attacked first).

Yes the police probably aggravated the situation to such an extent that the general public were then targeted. Not a clever move.

As to the shot that killed him. Not going to deny that the kill shot came from Moats own gun,but if you have just been tasered the body will go into convulsions including the one around the trigger. After a six hour stand off, and the fact that the shot was fired literally instantly after the taser would seem to infer that the police fired the lethal shot.

That there will be an investigation, as is right. However, my actual point is what about the role that the media played.

This was an unstable man and yet at least one of the papers thought it was a good idea to spread it all around that his mum said he would be better off dead. The dictaphone recorded the ramblings of a man whose attitude had changed due to what was reported by the media concerning various issues.

Where is the investigation into the actions of the press and media that caused him to then become a threat to the public?

Wasn't he already a threat to the public when he shot two people and attempted to kill the policeman? Or before that when he'd been arrested 12 times and charged with 7 offences (including possession of a knuckle-duster) and following an 18 week sentence for assault?

Yes the press have been very irresponsible. Maybe a hefty fine will make them think next time. I do not buy any daily papers at the moment so have not added to the fire by creating demand that they feel that they can justify publishing it. I have not really being following what the BBC have been doing as well. With their drop in journalistic standards I wonder if they added to the chaos?

Overall the probation service has some explaining to do, and the prison service for not really helping this man whilst inside. He clearly had problems which were not dealt with and only festered to breaking point. Though there could be an element of button pushing by the ex girlfriend. There is a lot more to this than we know.

Yes but the first two were his ex and her new boyfriend. That would not count as general public. The police were targeted after they made comments about him, then he shot one policeman. The comments by the media made him target the general public.

See I always thought as places like RAF Leeming and Boulmer have limited real events that it makes a good training exercise for them in recon and surveillance in tracking someone down

Could have been handled far better though

True but did we really need to know that information? If they have such capability we would be better off knowing so that it can be used more effectively.

Well I knew as I saw them about in the sky/on the road as there is a military base near me and an RAF base to the north/south of newcastle

If you live nearby then the occasional jet flying low overhead is nothing new. Plus they can do training exercises anytime without declaring that they were looking for Moat.

Frankly I am surprised that the local police helicopter was not able to find him. They usually have IR cameras on board. A living person in a tent would be detectable from quite an altitude. Though it would be expensive to have it up over Rothbery for so long.

Yeah it is well known that they try to use real world situations as training exercises, it might not have been explicitly said, but I think 2+2 = 4

Heat cameras are useless if he went inside one of the many barn buildings that are very rarely occupied

I would have thought that the heat cameras on a jet would not have been much use. Helicopters would have been much more effective.