Sorry to sound heartless, but it was bloody ages ago, and no real good can come of it now.
Nobody did anything on purpose, people - rightly or wrongly - did what they thought was best as they could see it unfold. Lets face it, the root cause was the venue was unsuitable. But in todays sad society, there has to be blame
Maybe they didn't before the event, but after the event there was a conspiracy, an organised cover up and a wall of lies which didn't fall apart for over 25 years,and that was what the families fought to unvcover for all those years.
This started while the tragedy was unfolding and was organised from the top of the police force concerned and ran right through the ranks down to special constables, by pressure from their superiors to alter statements to lie about the people who had died, to perpetrate the perception that it was pretty much their own fault.
If a child of mine died in those circumstances I would hope that I would be brave, persistent and dogged enough to take on the establishment and not let up until their lies had been uncovered.
I admire the families for doing what they did, and I hope the officers involved spend years behind bars for the lies they told.
I am, of course, talking about the incident that caused those 96 to be killed. People did what what they thought was right on the day, and no doubt with some apprehension in facing up to fans - remember we were at the height of UK football hooliganism.
The force's primary safety goal IS the protection of its own people, same as any other organisation. Everyone needs to understand, accept and get over that. Second consideration is safety of the public, and then everything else is lower priority.
I have no reason with the information that seems to be publically available to think that individuals did not do hat they thought was best on the day. So, unlawful killing seems to be a verdict reached under duress. Its clear the venue was unstuiable for the event, but I don't see the FA being dragged into this, as the unruly crowds of vigilantes know the "authorities" must always be to blame.
This is an entirely different topic to the subsequent cover-ups, which the prolonged pressure on is to serve one aim - financial gain. As no admission along the lines of "we did what we thought was right at the time, but with hindsight maybe things could be better" would bring the 96 back. I agree that those responsible for covering up the truth (if it was clearly to protect themselves, rather than a matter of wider security) should be questioned... ...but that isn't what this is about, is it? I know it, you know it, my mum's dog knows it.