MSNBC anchor Richard Lui asked a law enforcement analyst guest Saturday if there was a risk of "overreaction" from authorities responding to terrorism during coverage of the attack in London, Mediaite reports.
Seven people were killed and dozens were injured in an attack Saturday by three men on London Bridge and nearby Borough Market. According to BBC, the terrorists rammed a van into pedestrians on the bridge and then got out, wielding knives and stabbing civilians. The assailants were later killed by police.
As images of the police response to the terror attack played out on MSNBC, Lui asked guest Jim Cavanaugh if, in his experience, there could be an excessive amount of force used by law enforcement for such incidents.
"When you have analyzed these incidents post facto, as well as during ... there's certainly a risk of under-reaction—but is there any risk of overreaction, of deploying too much?" he asked. "You know, as we've been watching all of this live coming into our satellite center here in New York City and then beaming it out from London, is there ever a point where you go, 'Well, that's too much,' or 'You shouldn't be applying that amount of force there.'"
Cavanugh demurred, saying the police response couldn't be "too large" in such cases.
"When there's multiple attacks, really I don’t think the response can be too large, to get enough officers and investigators there to quickly quell it and then find out what’s going on. It’s really not a question of too many officers," he said. "It’s a question of using them adequately, smartly, getting all the help you can get."