Petition Who watches the watchers? Policing the police

The function of the police in a civilised society is to keep all of us safe. The police cannot keep us safe if we fear them. A police officer who strikes out with force that could be lethal, or who fires a gun, or who in any other way attacks one of us, should know there will be serious, immediate consequences.

Whenever a police officer kills or by his actions brings about the death of a member of the public, regardless of what extenuating circumstances may exist, that police officer or officers must lose their position on the police force and may not be permitted to reapply for a position on that or any other police force for ten years: this should be an automatic penalty without any exceptions, and should be separate from any investigation carried out by an independent agency into police actions and subsequent legal or criminal consequences to police officers.