Police want changes to the law giving them “a licence to kill”, leading rights groups have warned as the government prepares to give officers new protections from prosecution.
A government-ordered review into police accountability is expected to report within weeks. It followed fears of a walkout by angry armed officers in London after a police marksman, Martyn Blake, was tried for murder over the shooting of Chris Kaba. Blake was acquitted in October by a jury in three hours.
Police say they want the system to be fairer and protect officers who use force as part of their duties. Rights groups believe the system holding police to account is already too weak, and diluting it would “undermine public trust”.
In a letter seen by the Guardian, groups including Inquest, the Centre for Women’s Justice, Liberty and Black Lives Matter warn the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, against weakening police accountability.
“This review is less a kneejerk reaction but rather a dangerous and calculated attempt to use a high-profile case to push for less scrutiny and accountability of police actions,” they said.
“The number of cases where police officers are prosecuted for a death is vanishingly small (since 1990 there has only been one successful prosecution of an officer for manslaughter and none for murder).
“2023-24 saw a 10% increase in police use of force and the highest figure of police-related deaths for nearly a decade.
“Our work has exposed disturbing levels of neglect, violence and excessive use of force by police officers, particularly in cases involving black and racialised people. The institutional impunity afforded the police at an individual and corporate level indicates in most cases that police officers remain above the law.”
Inquest says since 1990 there have been 1,915 deaths after police custody or contact.
Later this year new laws will be introduced giving anonymity to firearms officers who shoot someone, unless they are convicted.
Within weeks, a review conducted by a former judge and former senior Scotland Yard chief will report.
It is looking at whether it should be made harder for inquests to find police unlawfully killed someone. It is also examining whether to make it harder to disprove an officer’s claim of self-defence in misconduct inquiries, by changing the standard of proof to the higher criminal test of beyond reasonable doubt, rather than the current civil test which is on the balance of probabilities.
Susan Alexander, whose son Azelle Rodney was shot dead by police in 2005 while on the way to rob a rival drug gang, said: “Seeing the police and their representatives now once again invest their energy to try to weaken the ways in which we can hold them accountable is an insult.
“Instead, imagine how many lives could be saved and families spared if they focused on implementing change and listening to us families rather than continuing to shut us out.”
Deborah Coles, the director of Inquest, said: “This review is a cynical attempt to shield the police from accountability and protect them from the rule of law. Police should not have a licence to kill. The changes they want would, in effect, give them one.”
The government believes it faces a balancing act of ensuring officers have the confidence to use their powers, while also reassuring the public that police are not above the law.
The Home Office was asked to comment.
