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Post date: 29-Nov-2019 08:19:50
So what are we to make of the not guilty verdict on David Duckenfield yesterday? I have to confess to being very conflicted about it all. No police officer ever sets out to allow 96 people to be crushed to death at a football match that they are supposed to be keeping in order, but there's no doubt that Duckenfield's incompetence, in ordering the gate to be opened without first ensuring that those who were allowed through would have somewhere to go, caused the disaster. He should have acquainted himself better with the layout of the ground, assessed the potential risks, and checked that the tunnel had been closed before giving the order. But why on earth was he chosen as the match commander in the first place? Who decided to put a rookie in charge, instead of an experienced officer who had policed big matches at Hillsborough before? What access did he have on the day to intelligence about what else was going on in different parts of the ground? Did he have all the officers and equipment that he needed? So often police officers can't do the job they want to do because of lack of resources.
Yes, I do blame Duckenfield for the coverup aferwards and the slurs on the Liverpool fans, which he encouraged in order to deflect blame away from Souith Yorkshire Police. Yes, it would make us all feel good to have someone to blame and to have that someone punished. And yet ... a bit of me is close enough to the everyday lives of police officers doing an incredibly difficult job and I wonder if it would have been justice, if he had been found guilty and sent to jail for his misjudgments back in 1989.