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I'm in disbelief that these firearms officers were disciplined for gross misconduct over the dispatch of a deer at the roadside.

Seems to me that the police service has lost the skill of two officers who offered a practical approach.

Putting an animal out of it's misery at the road side in Scotland is legal, using a blunt object (read hammer) provided it can't be proved that the animal was caused any additional distress. Since when did the hand wringing apologists run this country?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-30947899

Could not agree more with DL, ludicrous decision, as to when the hand wringing started I would guess after The Second World war. Could well be argued that they are not qualified in humane dispatch only human dispatch!

It's a stupid outcome for sure - however - if the standard practice was to dispatch said animal with firearms (according to the article) and said coppers were equipped with such - then why did they go for a crowbar?

I have sympathy for them - but a moments lack of judgement has resulted in a stupid decision.

Why send firearms officers if they were not going to use their firearms if necessary. Any officer could have hit it over the head with a bar. Stupid illogical decision by the officers and now they are paying for it.

Putting an animal out of it's misery at the road side in Scotland is legal, using a blunt object (read hammer) provided it can't be proved that the animal was caused any additional distress

Did the incident happen in Scotland. I can understand that method if there was no other option to dispatch the animal, but there was another option in this case.

I think the correct decision has been made. I believe it was totally unnecessary to dispatch the animal with a crowbar instead of shooting it. I think it was done for their own amusement rather than the best interests of the animal.

ordnance wrote:Why send firearms officers if they were not going to use their firearms if necessary. Any officer could have hit it over the head with a bar. Stupid illogical decision by the officers and now they are paying for it.

Putting an animal out of it's misery at the road side in Scotland is legal, using a blunt object (read hammer) provided it can't be proved that the animal was caused any additional distress

Did the incident happen in Scotland. I can understand that method if there was no other option to dispatch the animal, but there was another option in this case.

What part of Durham didn't you get??????????

What part of Durham didn't you get??????????

My point if it did not happen in Scotland , what has what's legal in Scotland got to do with it. I could have put it in a smart ass way like you, but was being subtle. :)

I imagine there's a lot of paperwork whenever they discharge a firearm.

Bandaging too...

I imagine there's a lot of paperwork whenever they discharge a firearm.

I suspect they had a lot more paper work and hassle after what happened.