I know I’m shocked

I mean, we all know the British government issues licenses to kill:

No police officers will face criminal charges over the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Crown Prosecution Service said yesterday. He was shot dead at Stockwell Underground station, south London, last July by anti-terrorist officers who mistakenly feared that he was a suicide bomber….

“In order to prosecute those officers, we would have to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that they did not honestly and genuinely hold those beliefs. In fact, the evidence supports their claim that they genuinely believed that Mr de Menezes was a suicide bomber and therefore, as we cannot disprove that claim, we cannot prosecute them for murder or any other related offence.”

If I ever wanted to start a career as a hit man, the first thing I’d do is join the police force. You could probably nail three or four people for profit, then retire early claiming post-traumatic stress disorder and collect a disability pension.

What an entirely predictable joke. By this logic, until the UK police possesses retroactive mind-reading technology, the British public is completely fair game so long as the cop can think up an excuse.