Will armed officer’s murder charge force change in how police shootings are reported?
Britain’s streets without the specialist firearms officers and armed response vehicles that are dotted around major cities will be more dangerous places.
The army is being called in as back-up to the officers withdrawing their service but they do not have the experience to deal with the split-second decisions that are made every day by the police.
As then head of specialist operations, Sir Mark Rowley was the man responsible for the expansion in the number of firearms officers in London.
It was designed to deal with the threat that emerged from the marauding firearms attacks in Mumbai in 2008 and Paris in 2015.
Thankfully, that threat has never materialised, although the officers were called in to deal with the terrorist knife attacks in Woolwich in 2013, London Bridge in 2017 and Fishmongers’ Hall in 2019.
However, the same officers deal with 4,000 incidents involving firearms or suspected firearms every year.
They discharge their weapons on fewer than two of those but when they do the results can have a devastating effect on the officers themselves and on community relations.
Azelle Rodney
There have been a small number of controversial shootings, most notably that of Azelle Rodney in 2005 and Mark Duggan in 2011, that led to the London riots that summer.
In the case of Azelle Rodney, following an inquiry finding that his killing was “not justified”, PC Anthony Long was eventually charged with murder, nine years after the shooting, and acquitted at trial.
In Mark Duggan’s case, an inquest jury found that he was lawfully killed, three years after the shooting, and no officer faced charges.
Mark Duggan
The process of charging officers with murder or manslaughter is a fraught one, but in the case of Chris Kaba, it has proceeded more quickly than usual, as the Independent Office for Police Conduct collected body-worn footage, CCTV, witness statements and forensics before passing their file to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The CPS decided to charge the officer NX121, with murder, for shooting Mr Kaba through the windscreen of the Audi he was driving in Kirkstall Gardens, Streatham.
The vehicle was being followed, having been identified as used in a firearms incident the previous day, but Mr Kaba was unarmed.
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Kaba: Officer charged with murder
The investigation and charge process took a little over a year but it has given rise to fears among firearms officers across the country that they are being judged for doing their jobs.
The details of the case cannot be discussed because of laws in Britain that mean the case against the officer could be prejudiced by reporting.
That is one of the things Sir Mark, now the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, would like to change but he would also like the CPS to strengthen the legal protection for officers who use force.
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Offering his support to his officers, Sir Mark wrote to the Home Secretary on Sunday, voicing their concern “that even if they stick to the tactics and training they have been given, they will face years of protracted legal proceedings”.
However, there is another dimension to the debate.
Riot police look on as smoke rises from burning buildings in Tottenham, north London, in 2011
In the case of Mark Duggan, the issue that provoked the London riots, was the belief in Tottenham that a criminal of Duggan’s experience would not have pointed a firearm at an armed police officer – and that he had, in effect, been executed.
Policing in Britain is performed by consent, and the police in London, and elsewhere, continue to face a challenge in the narrative that arose in Tottenham.
They are trained to believe that criminals will attempt to shoot them, but the reality, some believe, is very different.
Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
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Pic: LNP
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
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