There isn't any information in the article to judge whether the police response was appropriate. For example: was the victim acting suspiciously, or being violent and uncooperative during the incident? The notion that the police overreacted in this case is not a conclusion that is supported by any known facts.
The article also doesn't make the slightest attempt to examine the accusations of police incompetence that it presents, which further fuels the unwarranted sense of outrage.
Why wouldn't you have reason to ignore the warnings from people claiming to be "family" members in a hostage scenario, given they might be criminal accomplices?
Why is it bad to take reports of serious crime at face value, instead of assuming it might be a prank and risking a pattern of ignoring legitimate incidents in future?
Why would you take the expensive and time-consuming step of tracing phone calls before acting, when it risks wasting valuable time that would have saved lives in a real criminal incident?
There are incidents that demonstrate police incompetence and overreaction, or a failed law enforcement system, but this isn't one of them.
Having said that: 15 of the 17 top-level comments on this thread are explicitly critical of the police in this situation, so I don't know how you you're getting the impression that we aren't allowed to hold them accountable.
Of course, it's hard to judge without knowing the whole situation, but this all (military) approach of "shooting first, ask questions later" is not suitable for a local police imho.
Yes you can. And I feel like we should. Just because you get an order to murder someone doesn't mean you then get to switch off your brain and be absolved of any guilt.
I suggest you have a listen to this video[1]. "Just following orders" is the cause of some of the biggest grief in the world, now and historically.
Perhaps their willingness to enact violence on behalf of the state should put the police under greater suspicion.
Of course the one giving the orders should take an even higher blame.
I guess you don't believe police are there to protect and serve which they are sworn to do. Not protect and serve random callers from other nations by the way!
Police shoot, mutilate and nearly kill man sleeping at home during hoax: outcome > citizen to blame
I'm sure I could go on for a while. The point is, are we not allowed to hold government accountable for illegitimate use of violence? Isn't that... a really big problem?