Liverpool crash suspect response shows police have learnt from Southport
Last year, the city was rocked by the murders of three young girls in Southport, a town a few miles away.
The identity of the perpetrator in that case was published two days later. On this occasion, the police were desperate to get ahead of the curve.
In the wake of the Southport killings, there was a complete lack of information. That blank was filled with misinformation.
Misleading claims about the attacker abounded on social media and their true identity was lost in a storm of inaccurate claims.
The ethnicity and asylum status of the perpetrator were discussed and discussed and dissected on Right-wing social media channels. Ultimately, this silence helped to trigger riots across Britain.
Senior figures in Merseyside Police were well aware of their failings in the handling of the Southport case. They are also well aware of how they could have communicated better following Monday's attack.
In a sense, they have. At an early stage they provided the ID of the alleged perpetrator and his ethnicity.
Why does someone carry out a mass attack on innocent people? Of course, we need to leave that to the prosecutors.
For an attack to be declared as terrorism under UK law, it must have been carried out 'for the purpose of political, religious, racial or ideological cause'.
In the Southport case, police and prosecutors claimed that they were unable to establish the motivation behind the stabbings beyond a desire to kill, which is why it was not classified as terrorism.
We know nothing about why this attack was carried out. Yet.
Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000 is clear that for an incident to be declared as terror-related it must be 'designed to influence the Government or an international governmental organisation' or to intimidate the public or a section of the public.
With the motivations still unknown Merseyside Police have taken a bold, early step. It is a step, however, that seeks to calm public unease.
The force wants to try and explain its actions, even when they know, the reason is unclear.
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