Yep they are... so this little article doesnt surprises me at all...

Actually I would expect anyone and everyone with a gun to shoot at someone who is shooting at them..that's just basic self-preservation.

I'm not going to post some of the other pictures as they are pretty gruesome, but there are several from this same photographer that basically show a large train station littered with bodies and blood from the slaughter that took place.  I simply don't consider inaction to be a valid response to that for anyone with the ability to do something, there is no legitimate rationalization, trained or untrained. 

I've been in a life and death situation, and I've recieved shrapnel wounds from an explosion that I ran towards knowing full well it was going to go off in order to save another person's life.  I had a piece of glass shred into my right arm down to the bone while tackling someone to the ground, the piece of glass would have hit them in the forehead if it hadn't hit my arm instead.   I cannot fathom standing by as people are slaughtered by the dozen while I have the ability to do something.  Perhaps others can, but that, and the rationalization of that, is something I cannot understand and frankly never want to.

Shooting alone (since it doesn't look like the other cops will help) against a group of terrorists who seems to have an amazing skil at shooting doesn't sound like self-preservation to me.

Being the police, the guys really should have done something, but i don't blame them, i blame whoever trained these idiots, because with no training and knowing that you'll probably shoot alone and maybe make the terrorists even more agressive, better hide.

More aggressive? Whats more aggressive than shooting everything that moves? Shooting everything that doesn't move?

Sorry but appeasing them by allowing them to kill whoever they want is quite frankly the worst thing you can do.

Honestly, it's probably best if you guys don't try to rationalize this to me, it just pisses me off even more. We disagree on such a profound level that it's not worth discussing. Let's just leave it at that and agree to completely and utterly disagree.

Im sure the cops were as shocked as the rest of the public.. if you havent been to bombay already its splitting at the seems.. i cant even imagine victoria terminus and the pandemonium that must have ensued- its kinda like the victoria terminal in LDN but with 2-3x times the ppl

cop with a crappy gun.. versus terrorist with ak47 rifle... you do the math

^^Oh OK, well as long as they were legitimately surprised by the attack...and here I thought they knew about it in advance and had time to prepare /sarcasm =P

Seriously, what kind of standard is that? The cops are excused from doing their jobs because they didn't see it coming? That's the exact situation they are most needed for, it is the most crucial time for them to perform their duty.

The fact that they are splitting at the seems is a direct result of the police not doing their job, not the other way around. People felt like there is no safety because there truly wasn't, and so they panicked. It's the job of the police to provide that safety even when it means risking their life, not just nab thieves and write tickets when it's perfectly safe.

I'm not even remotely suggesting that taking action would have been safe. On the contrary...policemen would have been wounded or killed doing their jobs, I have no illusions otherwise. The point is that the killing doesn't stop until someone does something. Simply doing nothing when you have the power to stop it is the same as shooting the people who die from your inaction all by yourself.

The terrorist have to be stopped by someone at some point, if everyone whose duty it is to stop them says "Well I'm not paid enough." or "My gun isn't good enough." etc...then nobody stops them and they kill until they run out of ammo.  Not exactly the type of plan that makes a lot of sense is it? Of course that may be why it wasn't the plan at all...

I could. I can count the number of times I've held a gun on one hand, and I can tell you that if I was getting shot at or watching someone get shot at, I would be firing back from before my first attempt. I might not have hit them, but i sure as hell would have fired, rather than letting them take their time to aim at me and whoever else they wanted to shoot.

^^agreed...I had two friends who were at the taj palace who did get mired into this crap and guess who saved them.. the security forces.. so credit due where it is..yea its sad and pathetic the cops arent trained to deal with this at the railway station. But then again bombay cops have been known to rape girls at their checkposts and many of them are severely out of shape. You cannot control a panicked crowd at a railway station.

a sad fuckin event which couldn't have been avoided but could have been restrained

The explosion story I told above was a day in my life I will never forget because it was the day I found out what kind of person I was when the chips were down. Either choice you make is dangerous. There is a possibility that you die trying to save someone, but if you choose to do nothing the guilt will kill you slowly.

"Cowards die many times before their deaths, The valiant never taste of death but once."

--From Julius Caesar (II, ii, 32-37)

William Shakespeare

The lack of courage on the Police's part has its roots in the lack of training.
A regular patrol man will make no effort to stop an armed criminal, let alone a group of armed, and firing terrorists.
If they could shoot better, i have a feeling they couldve shot some of the bastards.
Anyways, i come from something of a backwaters state of India, and the police there are hilarious. but then again, terrorists arent gonna go and attack those states.