Melbourne CBD Incident

[DJC]

Are we not running out of space to put criminals? Hence why more get released than should.

And it costs a lot of money to keep someone in gaol!

Our justice system is based on the principle of innocent until proven guilty and courts have to be satisfied that there is a good reason to incarcerate someone before their guilt is proven.  I understand that the bloke responsible for the carnage has domestic violence charges pending and, while I would have locked him up and thrown away the key, magistrates have to be more even-handed.

The police couldn't have known what was going to happen earlier in the day when they were trying to apprehend the bloke or even when he was doing donuts outside Flinders Street Station.  However, I remember an incident where two police officers shot a barking Bull Terrier in the back of a ute parked in the CBD several years ago.  There was an outcry, and quite rightly too.  Apart from the lunatic fringe, I suspect that there would have been no outcry if the police had been able to "neutralise" the driver once the threat he posed was realised.  A difficult decision to take and one that I'm glad I have never had to make.