This chapter examines a range of major incidents that have required different responses from police leaders. The aim is to convey the variety of situations that forces and officers may encounter and to demonstrate that all incidents are a matter of judgement, risk analysis and an appropriate response. Each area could be dealt with extensively, but here the aim is simply to illustrate briefly the challenges that arise in policing that need to be dealt with by officers on the basis of training and experience and that require them to exercise a number of competences. Running though the examples, moreover, are the underlying insights that officers, at all levels, never know what they might encounter; that in reacting to a spontaneous incident organisational structure and leadership style have to alter instantly; and that there will always be a demand for internal and external accountability. Incidents are potentially a learning experience but may also early on – or even a great deal later – become a matter of dispute, recrimination and apportioning blame.

The topic of sudden intrusive reality in policing, the potential immensity and unexpectedness of certain major incidents and the choice of appropriate institutional and individual response can be illustrated by the shooting down of the Malaysian aircraft MH17, allegedly by a rocket, while flying over Ukraine in July 2014. This disaster has been a traumatic experience for the Netherlands as it involved a civilian airliner carrying many Dutch passengers flying in approved air space and being hit by a missile launched as part of a conflict within the Ukraine with possible Russian involvement. Such a scenario was completely unforeseen as far as the Dutch authorities and police were concerned. Police officers, members of the Marechaussee and other officials had to respond instantly and were suddenly confronted with the largest criminal investigation in Dutch history, with the task of determining the cause of the deaths of the 196 Dutch citizens on board and the audit trail leading to those criminally responsible. Hundreds of police officers – including the specialist Disaster Identification Team – started working on the case in cooperation with multiple agencies from across the globe.