Westminster terror attack - shame on him?

Are you a senior police officer though Sparklecat?

No-one would expect you to rush to the scene to help, although some brave bystanders did.

It was a terrible thing, but would I have behaved differently? I just don't know.

What has happened when it is a Member of Parliament and a doctor who rush to aid a fatally injured police officer - an MP who had lost his own brother in a terrorist attack - whilst at the same time a senior police officer stays safely in his car and is then driven away.

In his role he should have done something. Someone said elsewhere if he had had the car drive towards the incident he risked injuring PC Palmer further. Let's be honest ,poor Keith couldn't have been worse off could he and Mackey would have garnered more respect

Leading from the rear.

Afraid or not, he failed in his duty as a police officer (whatever his rank) to come to the aid of a fellow officer and the general public.
He should be ashamed to call himself a police officer.

It was his duty under oath ‘ prevent all offenses against people and property’

True the oath doesn’t allow for fear and being human I think the man was afraid.

Whether he is a "leader" or not I would have thought his first reaction should have been to go to the aid of a fellow officer.

The tiny snippet I heard on a radio news bulletin said that he'd told the enquiry he didn't get out of the car because he wasn't wearing protective gear..

If this is true then there are no words...

No apology needed Maggie x

In the rank and file police world he has received a lot of criticism, and rightly. He watched what went on and will now have to live with it.

I wonder if, in the heat of the moment, he felt that if he got out of the car, it could complicate matters. Officers might feel they should somehow shield him, detracting the focus from the perpetrator. Hard to say, really. No doubt with hindsight he wishes he acted differently.

I heard on the news that his driver and companion in the car were civilians, and he did not want to endanger their lives.

Surely he could /should have at least got out of the car and then told them to lock themselves in. Nobody knows if he could have prevented the police officers death, but he should have tried. He has to live with the knowledge that he did absolutely nothing. Not the actions expected of the acting head of the metropolitan police!!!

Then I’m sincerely sorry if I got it wrong, Annie. I thought he died on his motorbike. I have close family members in the police, some who have been seriously injured on duty, and I would never downplay their bravery.

No apology needed Maw x

I thought as much Anniebach
He received a bravery award, as you say.
Is there a “feet of clay” award lined up for Mackey?

Why “Jeez”?
I think he was to blame, he was the senior officer and chose to “act on advice”.
Leaders generally get stuck in.

My husband was killed in ‘an incident’ unless being in a drugs raid isn’t ‘an incident ‘ . My husband received a bravery award and every year I receive an invite to the annual service held in memory of officers who died in line of duty.

Maw, I was replying to the post above mine, saying that he should have driven at the attacker, and was simply pointing out that he was not in the driving seat. Where have I “made excuses”? Jeez....

OK, sincere apologies Anniebach if my comment was intrusive.
Not many of us have personal experience of serving police officers who have lost their lives on duty.
Or indeed being, or being married to police officers.

He was in the wrong, he had taken an oath and he broke it.

Not an excuse maggiemaybe
Leadership, for which he presumably got his knighthood, should be by example.
First World War generals spring to mind.

I’m not sure why you say that, Maw. It’s Annie’s business, but her dear husband wasn’t killed during an incident.

I thought no matter how high you climbed the ranks in the police force your first and overriding dictate was to be a police office and all that entailed.

Shame on him as his men ran towards danger and he stayed safely out of harms way.

I would welcome Anniebach’s take on this. Her DH clearly didn’t take the easy way out.

He wasn’t the driver of the car though. And presumably if his driver had driven at the attacker he’d have got the police officer as well.