Monsters Recap Part I

This is part one of a recap for the episode "Monsters". The second part of the recap can be found here.

## Details

### Operation Damson

This series opens on 13 May 2015 in South Ferry Station, and briefing is about to happen. The team is still filing in, there are 17 uniformed officers present. Here we first see Inspector Tracey McAndrew, Sergeant Danny Waldron, Constable Rod Kennedy, Constable Hari Bains, Constable Jackie Brickford and Lambert waiting for a briefing from Chief Superintendent Terry Reynolds. Reynolds starts and tells them about Operation Damson, an ongoing initiative aimed at detection / prevention of gangland murders. He confirms that surveillance of a subject under Operation Damson has been carried out for less than 24 hours and already their intelligence suggests that the subject is preparing to carry out a gangland execution. He continues that the subject is a known criminal with a history of violence, is expected to be armed and is designated as extremely dangerous. A picture of Ronan Murphy, the suspect, is displayed on the screen. Danny looks up and his face changes from calm to disturbed at seeing the face of the target.

Reynold is walking the team out and confirms that the Senior AFO (Armed Fire Office) is Inspector McAndrew and tells them that they'll operate out of four vehicles. Each vehicle to be positioned on the suspect's possible routes of travel and awaiting Gold Commander's orders to intercept. He then reads out the crew assignments, Victor Charlie Four Zero is McAndrew, with Lambert, Chapel and Bellow. Victor Charlie Five Zero is headed by Danny.

In the armoury, McAndrew has taken over and is asking them all to sign that they "*understand the law regarding the legal use of force as outlined by the SFC. You will each sign out your weapon. You will each sign out the type of ammunition and the number of rounds.*" We see them all sign and go to retrieve their weapons. We see Danny load his gun, no expression on his face.

In the garage, McAndrew hurries them all to their vehicles and all four vehicles set off. We hear them all doing radio checks and McAndrew orders the vehicles to disperse to their separate routes. Danny confirms on the radio that he has the Bravo route and will confirm when in location.

Back in the station, Reynold confirms that Victor Charlie Five Zero is in position and their location is marked on an active map, A position is North, B Is East, C is South and D is West. The suspect's location is shown as heading south down Enville Drive. Reynolds receives intelligence that the suspect is travelling west on to Hill Street, toward Bravo position. Danny confirms on the radio and the team start to look tense. Reynolds confirms they are looking for a Blue Toyota Celica registration LDZ 4WEW. Danny spots the car and tells the driver to go and they head off. McAndrew asks Danny to report over the radio. Danny confirms they have the target in sight and are maintaining obs. McAndrew confirms that they are on route to join them. Danny wants to know what his orders are. McAndrew confirms the order is a Fahrenheit Order. The team in the van look at each other as they start to get tenser. Danny tells the driver to go and they speed up after the suspect.

They are now in a car chase around tight, park car filled, single file roads. McAndrews confirms that her teams ETA to join them is two minutes. Everyone in VC-50 is getting tense, as Danny shouts "received" into his radio. They are closing in on the suspect's car. Danny orders a hard stop. Hari says "Come off it, skipper!", Jackie says "Danny!". Danny confirms the order, he wants to execute a hard stop. Rod tries to get through to him but he's not listening to anyone. The whole team begin to put their helmets on, as the van speeds past the suspect's car to pull alongside the suspect's car and force them to stop before they hit a parked car. The manoeuvre works and the car can't get past the van. The suspect escapes his car and runs off into Princes Court. Danny runs after him shouting "armed police!", he doesn't wait for his team who are still getting out of the van. Hari shouts at him to slow down and wait for them, but Danny doesn't listen and chases after the suspect still yelling armed police at him. Hari, Rod and Jackie are rushing to get their weapons from the firearms box in the back of the van as Danny disappears around a corner.

We see the suspect run around a corner into a dead end and Danny screams armed police again and gets his Glock 17 out. The suspect seeing there is no way out raises his hands and says ok. We cut back to the rest of the team who are running to catch up with Danny. Back with Danny, the suspect slowly takes his gun out of the back of his trousers and throws it away from him, he laces his fingers behind his head. The suspect turns around and there is a small flash of recognition from him, Danny makes up his mind and shoots three times, one is a head shot and the suspect drops to the ground, his legs bent from having been kneeling.

Jackie is worried and calls out to him, Hari reports the shots fired, and Rod is trying to locate Danny. Danny can hear all this in the background, as he stares for a second. He then moves into action and straightens his legs out so he didn't look like he was kneeling. This is all he has time to do before Rod, Jackie and Hari round the corner. Jackie shouts armed police, but Rod has already figured out the situation and just says Shit. Jackie looks shocked. Hari goes to the body and tries to check for breathing and a pulse, but Rod tells him its futile, that he's down.

Danny, having regained his composure calmly states "He refused to surrender his firearm." Hari looks around and sees how far away the gun is from the body and says "Jesus Christ, look where the gun is!" Rod asks Danny how it happened. Danny says it was a muscle spasm caused by the brain injury and he chucked it over there. Jackie says it looks really bad though. Danny agrees it looks bad so he walks towards the gun putting on a glove. Danny says "It was self-defence but we all know the shit I'll get for it." and bends down to pick up the gun. Rod and Hari try to get him to stop before he tampers with evidence but it's too late, he's already touched the gun. Jackie tells him he's making it worse. Danny then tried to play it as if he is protecting the team, he says he doesn't want them to get in the shit. Hari looks confused, and Rod says they didn't do anything. Danny says that's the problem, they didn't do anything. He says he'll cover for them and say they all got there together and the mad bastard pulled a gun on them. Rod doesn't want to be a part of this. Danny says that the guy would have surrendered if they'd gotten there in time and his report will say that unless they all "man up" and get on board with his story.

The sirens from the other teams are getting closer, and the team looks resigned to go along with this crazy story. Danny tells them to discharge their weapons. Jackie says she won't. Danny tells them to shoot over the suspect's body in the direction they would have fired if they'd actually managed to get there in time. Rod says no too. Waldron stares him down and headbutts his helmet. Rod reluctantly fires his gun once as does Jackie. Hari refuses to shoot and Danny says fine they'll just say he choked, it seems plausible. He then walks over to the body and with no warning fires the suspect's weapon toward Hari's head. McAndrew has arrived and is asking VC-50 for a status report. Danny puts the gun in the suspect's hand and takes off the glove. Jackie and Rod are still holding their guns at him. Danny says that they are all in it together, its the best way.

McAndrew and her team come round the corner and Rod and Jackie finally lower their weapons. Her first question is if anyone is hurt. Danny confirms they are all fine, and McAndrew updates everyone on the radio that the suspect is down. McAndrews looks around and sees that the team are shaken and tells them to store their weapons and calls into the radio to have forensics deployed to the scene. She looks back at Danny and asks again if everything is ok, and he said they're fine, everyone did their job.

### Investigation of Operation Damson begins

A police cordon has been erected around the scene and a few residents have gathered. Superintendent Ted Hastings arrives on the scene to join DS Steve Arnott who was already there. A white forensic tent has been erected over the body and the forensics teams are gathering evidence. Bullets holes have been found and indicated on the walls and samples are being taken. Hastings asks Steve if he thinks it ones for them, and Steve says it is.

Reynolds arrives at the crime scene and VC-50 line up and Reynolds advises them that *"Forensics will take your firearms, gunshot residue samples, clothing, nail scrapings. You are to remain at the station until they advise they don’t need any further samples."* Danny confirms calmly whilst the rest of the team look pissed off, Hari is staring straight ahead. Reynolds tells them "*You’re all entitled to 48 hours’ recovery time. You’ll all be offered post-traumatic counselling. My advice is to use these 48 hours wisely."* and he walks off. VC-50 get into the van and are driven off.

### Danny Waldron's First interview with AC-12

Danny is being interviewed by Hastings, DI Matthew Cottan ("Dot") and Steve with Sergeant Karen Marley his police federation representation present. Steve wants Danny to confirm that he was the officer present that day using call-sign Victor Charlie Five One. Danny confirms he was. Steve directs them to document two in their folders, which is an FA-1 which was issued to AFOs at South Ferry Police Station, which was issued to Danny on prior to the operation. Danny confirms that he saw the form and that it is his signature. Steve says *"According to the FA-1, you were issued with a Glock 17 Service pistol serial number Mike-November- 8746546 and 9-by-19 millimetre parabellum rounds."* Danny confirms this was the case. Hastings wants Danny to confirm how he was personally involved in Operation Damson. Danny starts to explain and we see DC Kate Fleming in another room listening, hidden from view, taking notes. Danny tells them it was a real-time deployment authorised by the SFC and he was in the second vehicle designated Victor Charlie Five Zero, with his team. Steve pulls up pictures of the team and shows AFO VC-52 was Rod, VC-53 was Jackie and VC-54 was Hari.

Danny, in a very flat matter of fact tone, confirms that they were deployed to a holding position at one of the four exit routes for the suspect and maintained radio contact with the operational senior AFO. Who Steve confirms as being VC-41 McAndrew. Danny confirms. He continues that McAndrew notified him that the suspect was travelling towards his team and he was authorised to carry out a real-time intercept.

Hastings cuts in here and says "*Things get a wee bit fuzzy for me here, Sergeant. Maybe you could be a ray of sunshine and burn off the fog."* Danny stares back at Hastings and doesn't say anything. Hastings gets cool and says I'm waiting. Danny stares back and says "Sir, I'm waiting for a question." Dot starts and confirms that Hastings is asking how comer per statements given, they were ordered to wait for support by McAndrew. Danny says they were advised, not ordered. Dot looking frustrated says that Danny went ahead anyway and ordered a hard-stop anyway. Danny says *"The suspect was travelling at high speed to an unknown destination with the intention of committing a gangland execution."*, Dot says so the intelligence said. Danny gets defensive and says the intelligence did say it, and if that's wrong they should take it up with them.

Marley cuts in to ask them to stick to questions relating to Danny's actions. Danny then asks if they can refer to the map in their folders document four, he seems very well rehearsed in his wording. He explains that the suspect was travelling at high speed along Prince's Road and as the suspect was approaching a line of parked cars with open road ahead he was concerned that if they didn't carry out the hard-stop immediately the suspect would get away. Dot asks if that was Danny's decision to make. Danny answers *"No, sir, it was the decision of the Strategic Firearms Commander who designated the operational objective of preventing the suspect carrying out an act of lethal force, added to which as police officers it’s a non-negotiable duty to protect the public. May I answer the question now?"* Hasting agrees and Danny continues "*Fearing the suspect would get away and pose a danger to the public, I took the decision to close off his route of escape by executing a hard-stop manoeuvre on Prince’s Road that trapped the suspect’s vehicle between ours and the parked cars. The suspect then made his escape on foot via an alleyway, and I gave chase. This foot chase led to a confrontation in Prince’s Court."*

Hastings asks him to tell them all about the confrontation. Danny replies *"Once in Prince’s Court, almost immediately the suspect realised he was cornered. The suspect turned his weapon on us and fired. We returned fire. Shots struck the suspect in the head and proved instantly fatal."* Steve says that the statements provided by the rest of his team agree with his statement. Dot says that they have an eye witness from Prince's Road who says that Danny entered the rough ground 30 seconds before the rest of the team. Danny without hesitation says that he was first out of the vehicle and that will have mislead the eye-witness. Dot asks if he says she was mistaken. Danny confirms that all he is saying is that his statement and that of his team are accurate. Hastings notes that the statements are all consistent, down to the last detail.

Hasting asks if he and his team acted as one. Danny confirms this. Dot says that it hasn't always been the case with Danny's teams. Steve adds that in his four years at South Ferry Station there have been a fair number of officers who have put in transfer requests to move off his team. Danny says that some guys can't cut it and he wanted them off the squad and to save face they put in transfer requests. Steve wants to confirm that these officers didn't have personal issues with him. Danny says he has high standards, which means it's their problems. Steve can't believe the arrogance he is displaying.

Hasting goes back to the event in question and asks Danny if the team all entered Prince's Court together. Danny says *"Yes, sir. We were moving fast on foot but I carried out a rapid risk assessment, noting there were no members of the public in immediate jeopardy. I called, “Armed Police.” The suspect turned his weapon on us and opened fire. I returned fire. The suspect fell to the ground. Immediate examination of the suspect by Victor Charlie Five Four revealed serious wounds to the head. The suspect had absent respiration and his pulse was also absent. I secured his firearm. A few moments later, Victor Charlie Four One arrived on the scene with her team and assumed operational command."* Steve asks why the chose their pistols and not their G36s. Danny says *"We confronted the suspect in a confined space bounded by hard surfaces. Given the G36 has a muzzle velocity of over nine hundred metres per second, I identified a significant risk our rounds might pass through the suspect and ricochet back at us causing injury."*

Dot says they don't have an eyewitness to the shooting, but they have three ear-witnesses. Hastings adds that they are independent of each other. Steve gives the information that they all claim to have heard a group of gunshots, followed closely by a second group of gun shorts which was then followed by a single shot. Danny says that, as per his written statement, it's a matter of fact that one shot was fired by the suspect and that was followed immediately by shots fired by him, VC-52 and VC-53. Hastings says that the ear-witnesses would contradict that fact. Danny says *"It’s an accepted and well-recognised acoustic phenomenon that an ear-witness can be deceived by up to six different sounds associated with a single gunshot."*

Steve moves on to document six in their folders, which is the forensic report. It confirms that gunshot residue was found on VC-51, VC-52 and VC-53. Marley jumps in to say that they all discharged their weapons and they aren't disputing it. Steve continues and says that a Colt 1911 A1 pistol was found in the suspect's right hand, and gunshot residue was found on him, but also found on Danny. Hastings wants to know if he can explain this finding. Danny says that he secured the suspect's firearm, which would have caused a secondary transfer of the residue after it had been discharged. Steve says the concentration on him is more characteristic of a gunman than a bystander. Danny continues to say it was when he secured the firearm. Hastings asks Danny if he expects them to believe that.

Steve reveals that gunshot residue was found 5 metres away from the body, which matched the suspect's gun. He wants to know if Danny can account for it. Danny says that the suspect was in motion as he turned his firearm towards his team and he covered a short distance between raising the gun and firing. Steve counters that gunshot residue was found where the body was, proving the gun was fired at that position, how can it be five metres away as well. Marley cuts in to say that Danny has answered that question. Steve asks specifically if the gun ever lay in a position 5 metres from the suspect. Danny says that it did not.

There is a pause and Steve brings up the next report, the post mortem results which confirms that there were three heads shots on target and they were all fired by Danny. Dot adds that this means Danny really made sure that the suspect was down. Marley adds that Danny regrets the loss of life, but he was an AFO acting under lawful orders of the SFC. Steve asks Danny if he regrets killing him, and Marley cuts in but Steve says he wants Danny to answer. Marley says that he has the right to be interviewed by an officer at least one rank superior. Hastings asks, and Danny says "*I regret the loss of life*" to which Hasting's replies "*Three shots, fella!*". Steve says that it's standard practice to aim at the maximum body mass, the chest. Hastings asks why he took head shots. Danny says he was ten metres away, had good visibility and believed the shots were highly achievable. Steve says that standard practice is to double-tap the trigger, to discharge shots in pairs. Hastings whats to know why there were two or four shots. Danny confirms that he collapsed after the third shot so he ceased fire.

Hastings describes it as shooting him down like a dog. Danny looks surprised. Marley interrupts to say that his language is inflammatory. Steve asks why he wasn't simply wounded. Danny states that they do not shoot to wound, they shoot to neutralise a lethal threat. Steve says that he was the only AFO to strike the target. Danny tried to confirm again but Hastings butts in and says *"Listen to me, son. We weren't born yesterday! You shot that fella in cold blood while your wee mates stood by and watched."* Danny confirms he shot first and the others fired a fraction of a second later, by which time the suspect had collapsed and their shots missed. Dot asks if he saw all that in a fraction of a second. Danny replies "*I’ve never been to this building before. You saw me walk into this interview room, sit down in a matter of a few seconds. Over my left shoulder are three rows of open-plan desks in front of a glass partition dividing the open-plan area from a private office range 20 metres. Seated at the desks are seven personnel comprising, four males and three females. Over my right shoulder is a longitudinal partition at chest height beyond which is gate-controlled access range 20 metres. Entrance and exit to this floor level are via key controlled lifts adjacent to the waiting area at my 4 o’clock position range 35 metres."* They all look behind him and see that everything he is saying is accurate.

Hastings wants to know why he fired the second shot, why the third. Hastings asks if he was losing it out there. Danny says "*I cite under Common Law my lawful right to use lethal force for preservation of life or in self-defence where this threat is immediate.*" Hastings responds with *"Yes. And in response I cite Section 117 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, the use of reasonable force. And for the tape the emphasis is mine and not contained in the Act."* Danny says it's easy to say that from behind a desk. This enrages Hastings who tells him that from behind a desk they uphold standards, which he is expected meet as a serving police officer.

Steve then brings up a photo of the head and shoulders of the suspect on the morgue table. Hastings asks if he recognises the man. Marley and Danny look away from the gruesome image. Marley objects, saying that Danny has been in an extremely tragic and distressing incident and this line of enquiry is offensive and insensitive. Dot tells Marley that her man doesn't look like the sensitive type. Danny looks shocked and looks from Dot to Danny. Steve asks if he is, Danny says what? Steve says Sensitive, as there is no recorded next of kin in his file, no wife or fiancee? trying to suggest he might be gay. Danny struggles to keep his cool and Marley says these questions have no bearing on the investigation. Steve says they don't know that yet.

Danny looks a little rattled and confirms he's single, before anyone else can ask anything further he says *"The suspect was an armed criminal with a history of violence posing an immediate and credible threat to the public. In respect of Operation Damson, on May 13th the Strategic Firearms Commander authorised the use of firearms. Under Section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 I am also entitled to use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances to prevent crime, and under Section 117 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 I am entitled to use reasonable force in the exercise of police powers. Under Common Law I have the lawful right to use lethal force for preservation of life or in self-defence where this threat is immediate. At no time has anyone in this room put forward credible evidence that I acted unlawfully and therefore I formally request that my withdrawal from operational deployment be lifted and my firearms permit be reinstated so I can get back to doing what I do best."*

Hastings advises him that the investigation is far from over and they have only just scratched the surface. Danny's request is denied, the interview is terminated, and he's only allowed to do desk duty. Danny looks upset and walks out without looking back, Marley chases after him. They wait for the lift, Danny is fuming, and Steve comes out of the room behind them. Danny walks to confront Steve and Marley tells him not to. Danny asks why he was asking why was he asking that stuff about his personal life. Steve says it wasn't personal, they size each other up, Danny says he's not finished and Steve replies neither are they. Marley calls Danny into the lift. Steve looks disturbed by the interaction.

Part II of Episode Description continued here - Monsters Part II