September 2023: 'Let the police police', let the public suffer
The most toxic unit at the Met have thrown their toys out of the pram
Dear StopWatchers,
It’s officially been a whole year since Sir Mark Rowley took up the role of Met commissioner on 12 September 2022. He marked the happy occasion with a cringe-inducing video montage comprising footage from various events held across London to launch his ‘New Met for London’ plan, with a jarringly bubbly Love Island-esque soundtrack played throughout the clip (Met Police, 13 Sep). Skipping over the revelations of violence, misogyny, homophobia, racism, and corruption that have characterised his term so far, Rowzers tells the camera, ‘Even our critics want us to win’ (shoutout to the haters!) and ‘I’m really excited by the positive energy’ (it’s all good vibes here at the Met!).
But by the end of the month, whatever ‘positive energy’ Rowley might have been excited about had evaporated entirely. The Crown Prosecution Service announced that the officer who fired the shot that killed Chris Kaba would be charged with murder, sparking outrage among the ranks of police officers across the country and a rebellion of around 100 firearms officers, who downed their weapons in protest at the charging decision – forcing Rowley to call in the help of other police forces as well as soldiers from British Army.
In other news this month, we saw several news stories pop up in the ‘culture wars X policing’ genre, as home sec Suella Braverman ordered a review into ‘political activism’ within policing (The Guardian, 2 Sep). Speaking to the Telegraph, Braverman said: ‘What’s crystallised it in my mind is meeting hundreds of rank and file cops who have said they’re fed up with the virtue signalling that some police leaders have been spending their time on, instead of focusing on back-to-basics crime’. Braverman condemned various other forms of ‘woke’ policing, declaring that the police are not paid to ‘dance with drag queens’ or ‘wave flags’ – in apparent reference to the policing of Pride events over the summer (The Independent, 18 Sep). Last week, in response to Braverman’s comments, Humberside police chiefs solemnly proclaimed that their police officers would no longer be seen ‘wearing glitter and face paint’ (BBC News, 23 Sep).
Mark Rowley also chimed in on the topic, admitting (also to the Telegraph) that he is indeed ‘narrow minded’ when it comes to police officers displaying support for popular causes while on duty, adding that there were ‘very few’ issues for which the police should actively show support. ‘Wearing a poppy in the autumn is perfectly proper,’ Rowley said, ‘But there is not a lot that we should align to because the danger is that once you say “we are going to align ourselves to a cause because 90% of the population support it”, what about the 10%?’ (Evening Standard, 29 Aug). He’s right – how would the homophobes and racists have confidence that the police are on their side if all the officers are wearing Pride badges and taking the knee???
This month at StopWatch, we:
Welcomed a new member of staff: the wonderful Rebecca Dooley – now our Legal advocacy officer
Hosted friends, collaborators, and allies of StopWatch for a catch-up over drinks at our offices – thanks so much to everyone who came!
Published a blog post and a Twitter thread looking at the newly published stop and search stats
With the help of our volunteers, we put together a response to a Home Office consultation on proposed changes to Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
Topics in this newsletter include:
Firearms officers’ apparent desire for total impunity
The ongoing misconduct hearing involving the police officers who stopped the athletes Ricardo dos Santos and Bianca Williams back in 2020 (BBC News, 22 Sep)
And in Terrible Tech, the least surprising police tech news story we’ve ever encountered…
A culture of impunity
This month marked one year of Rowley as Met commissioner; it also marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Chris Kaba. On 5 September 2022, Chris was followed by an unmarked police vehicle through south London and, after being forced to stop, was fatally shot through the windscreen of the car he was driving by an officer from the Met’s firearms unit, known only as officer NX121.
The police watchdog concluded its homicide investigation and passed the file to the CPS to consider potential criminal charges back in March. After another five months of waiting for the Kaba family, the CPS finally announced on 20 September that officer NX121 would be charged with murder. NX121 had been remanded into custody ahead of their appearance at the Old Bailey, where they were granted bail on the conditions that they live at a named address, surrender their passport, and do not apply for international travel documents. The trial is due to take place in September 2024 (BBC News, 22 Sep).
According to INQUEST, over the last three decades there has been only one successful prosecution of a police officer for manslaughter in England and Wales (in 2021), and none for murder (INQUEST, 20 Sep). Time will tell if NX121 is found guilty.
In response to the charging decision, around 100 officers from the Met’s firearms unit (known as ‘MO19’) refused to go out on armed patrol. Some handed back their ‘blue tickets’ – the licence given to authorised firearms officers (The Guardian, 23 Sep). Earlier this week, it was reported that MO19 officers were planning a mass downing of their weapons if the anonymity order protecting NX121’s identity is lifted at a hearing next month (Sky News, 26 Sep).
The growing rebellion prompted the home secretary to order a review of armed policing (The Guardian, 24 Sep). ‘[Police officers] mustn’t fear ending up in the dock for carrying out their duties’, Braverman posted (24 Sep). In an open letter published the same day, Rowley welcomed the announcement of a review and called for greater protections for armed officers, accusing the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) of being too quick to criminally investigate officers who use force. ‘I have spoken publicly in recent weeks about the need to let the police police’, Rowley wrote – his emphasis (Met Police, 24 Sep).
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police Federation, the Met’s staff association, released a statement saying ‘Colleagues should not fear for their liberty and livelihoods for simply doing the job’ (MPF, 25 Sep). In a message to members, the Police Federation’s national chair instructed police officers to ‘show support’ for NX121. ‘Thank you to every officer who has been in contact. I am taking your concerns to Government and others to impress upon them your frustrations’ (Police Federation, 22 Sep).
Let’s not forget that Baroness Casey’s damning assessment of MO19 as part of her review of the police published in March this year, described a ‘deeply troubling, toxic culture’ in the unit (p190), a widespread ‘sense of entitlement’ (p192), a lack of senior oversight and scrutiny (p193), and ‘a culture […] where misogyny is deeply ingrained’ and women were consistently bullied and harassed (p192). The review found hierarchy and power imbalances, and an arrogant, corrupt culture in which officers – both those in MO19 and those in the rest of the Met – held the view that ‘firearms officers “need to be allowed” to bend or break the rules’ (p192). Around 90% of MO19 officers are men, and a slightly higher percentage are white. ‘Well resourced, with elitist attitudes and toxic cultures of bullying, racism, sexism and ableism, normal rules do not seem to apply or be applied in MO19’ (p190).
With this context in mind, it’s a little easier to understand why officers at one of the most toxic and entitled units in the Met (and presumably, across the country) are quite literally throwing their toys out of the pram.
In theory, armed officers have no specific special protection when they use force under English criminal law when compared with the average citizen (25 Sep). But in practice, we know that’s just not true – just look at the decades’ worth of cases in which the families of individuals killed by police officers have been denied justice through the criminal legal system. Jermaine Baker. Mark Duggan. Azelle Rodney. Jean Charles de Menezes.
We could go on about the ways in which police protect and cover for each other, no matter how serious their wrongdoing; the ‘us vs. them’ mentality pervasive throughout the ranks of police forces across the country; the ways in which upholding society’s oppressive and deeply unequal social structures is baked into the very purpose and function of policing. (Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Substack’s email word limit prevents us from doing so.) But suffice to say that by describing the killing of an unarmed Black man as ‘simply doing the job’, the outraged firearms officers and senior politicians and police officials have made the mistake of saying the quiet part out loud, and have shown their true colours once again to the British public.
Police misconduct hearing: the case of Ricardo dos Santos and Bianca Williams
We have been attending the police hearing for the five officers accused of gross misconduct when they stopped Ricardo dos Santos and Bianca Williams in July 2020. Following more than a week of legal arguments regarding the admissibility of evidence, Ricardo was questioned by the lawyers of each of the accused officers. He recounted that he has found the many experiences he has had with police to be traumatic and explained that his experiences with the police as a young Black man were ‘completely different to what my white counterparts would go through’. The hearing is expected to last until 27 October. (Thanks to StopWatch’s legal advocacy officer for this summary of the hearing so far).
Deaths from police contact, cases old and new
Zodoq Obatolah, 52
In April this year, Zodoq Obatolah fell to his death from a fifth-floor balcony after being Tasered by police in Peckham. The police watchdog has now issued an appeal to find Obatolah’s relatives. Two Met officers are under criminal investigation for gross negligence manslaughter in connection with Obatolah’s death (Evening Standard, 13 Sep).
Sean Rigg, 40
15 years after the death of Sean Rigg in police custody, the police watchdog has issued an apology to his sister, Marcia Rigg, for delays and police failings. Responding to the apology, Marcia Rigg said she continued to be haunted by the ‘never-ending trauma and painful impact’ of her brother’s death. ‘The whole judicial system in the UK is fundamentally flawed, institutionally racist, corrupt and a national public scandal,’ she said (The Guardian, 8 Sep).
Mikias Tekeste, 30
Two Met officers are being investigated for potential gross negligence manslaughter after Mikias Tekeste died in custody having swallowed items hidden on his person on July 15th. The IOPC said the two officers ‘may have failed to appropriately supervise Mr Tekeste’ (Evening Standard, 8 Sep).
Barry Morris, 37
The IOPC has launched an investigation into the circumstances of Barry Morris’s death after being detained and restrained with handcuffs and leg restraints by officers from Merseyside police. Barry then ‘became unwell’, and was transported to hospital by paramedics, where he died two days later (IOPC, 8 Sep).
Other news
Met cops to face gross misconduct hearing over excessive force and discrimination in detention of 14-year-old in Croydon: The police watchdog concluded in July 2023 that a police constable and an acting police sergeant should face a gross misconduct hearing for alleged breaches of police standards of professional behaviour following the incident (South London Press, 5 Sep).
Labour peer condemns ‘cover-up’ of undercover police officer’s multi-decade deception: Shami Chakrabarti has condemned the alleged cover-up of an undercover police officer’s 19-year relationship with a woman he deceived using his fake identity. The victim (a Black woman who is using the alias ‘Mary’) was not told of the deception until 2020, despite Avon and Somerset police having known about the relationship since 2013. Later this month, it emerged that the CPS had declined to charge the officer back in 2015 (The Guardian, 7 Sep; 6 Sep; 27 Sep).
Met police officers who strip-searched ‘Child Q’ to face misconduct hearing: The 15-year-old schoolgirl was wrongly accused of possessing cannabis and was searched while on her period and with no appropriate adult present at a school in Hackney, London (Sky News, 14 Sep).
PC sacked for choking naked woman until she passed out had previously been warned over ‘excess force’: Former PC Robert Marshall, who had spent 14 years at Merseyside police, was sacked after a three-day misconduct hearing (Liverpool Echo, 15 Sep).
Met Police officer faces sack ‘after Tasering 10-year-old girl in south London’: A misconduct hearing is being held for PC Jonathan Broadhead who is accused of twice deploying his Taser at the child’s home in south London in January 2021 (Evening Standard, 20 Sep).
Three quarters of rape survivors say police response damaged their mental health: In the largest ever survey of rape and sexual assault survivors in England and Wales, respondents described feeling more traumatised by their experience with the police than they had been by the original rape (The Guardian, 21 Sep).
Two ex-police constables jailed for sexual misconduct targeting vulnerable women: Former West Midlands officers Anthony Ritchie and Steven Walters, who targeted the same victim, were found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court (Evening Standard, 22 Sep).
Sadiq Khan refuses to rule out breaking up the Met: The Mayor of London warned ‘nothing is off the table’ when it comes to improving the force's culture (BBC News, 23 Sep).
Section 60 watch*
Greater Manchester
South Manchester and Trafford (2-3 Sep; 3-4 Sep), Harpurhey (24 Sep)
Merseyside
Maghull (30 Aug)
London
Notting Hill (30 Aug), Lambeth (4 Sep), Brent (25 Sep)
Suffolk
Ipswich (3 Sep)
Thames Valley
Carterton (8 Sep), Slough (24 Sep)
West Yorkshire
Chapeltown, Leeds (12 Sep)
* This is not a comprehensive list
Terrible tech: BWV – a not-so-independent witness
This month in Terrible Tech, we bring you potentially the least surprising police tech story imaginable: ‘Police accused of widely misusing body-worn video’ (The Guardian, 28 Sep).
A BBC investigation found more than 150 incidents in which police officers had mishandled BWV, including by switching off cameras during incidents, failing to disclose inconvenient evidence they had recorded, and sharing footage with other officers on WhatsApp and via email (BBC, 28 Sep). Footage had also been lost, deliberately deleted, or not marked as evidence. The BBC reported that on occasions where body-worn cameras had been turned off, officers faced no sanctions, with one force suggesting an officer who deliberately switched off his BWV camera might have just been ‘confused’.
The investigation’s findings may come as quite a blow for those who herald the use of body-worn video (BWV) as some sort of miracle solution to the problems of police violence and unaccountability – as well as for the Met, who previously claimed that body-worn cameras act as an ‘independent witness’ (BBC, 28 Sep). More than £90m has been spent on police BWV over the past decade.
The story serves as yet more evidence that ‘better’, ‘smarter’, or more ‘advanced’ police tech will never deliver the truth and justice the public deserve when it comes to interactions with the police.
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