Sir Mark Rowley took the job of Metropolitan police commissioner knowing that his task was to restore public trust, which has fallen precipitously. Despite strengths such as counter-terrorism, the Met was placed in special measures in June for “systemic failings” in fighting crime and serving victims, with tens of thousands of offences going unrecorded. Its legitimacy is under as severe scrutiny as its performance, and may be still harder to restore. One week before Sir Mark was sworn in on Monday, 24-year-old Chris Kaba was killed by officers in Streatham, south London: the fourth black man since 2005 shot dead by police when he was not holding a weapon, following Azelle Rodney, Mark Duggan and Jermaine Baker. While the father-to-be was driving a car (not registered to him) which had been linked to an earlier firearms incident, no gun was found at or near the scene.
His death is now the subject of an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) homicide investigation, after a review of the early evidence; all those involved should cooperate fully, though previous cases do not inspire confidence. The officer responsible has, appropriately, been suspended from frontline duties, though colleagues have reportedly threatened to hand in their weapons in response. The defensiveness may be comprehensible; their job is inherently difficult and dangerous. But it is not acceptable. Putting down their guns would be a dereliction of duty and a threat to the rule of law. Though the IOPC is investigating Mr Kaba’s death, questions remain for the Met itself, including why it took 11 hours to inform his family of his death.
Sir Mark should overhaul firearms policy. Armed officers make split-second decisions to protect themselves and the public. But the police planning and management of operations has been repeatedly criticised; firearms experts told the official inquiry into Azelle Rodney’s death in 2005 that the tactics chosen by senior officers made it “almost inevitable” that someone would be shot. The Met should not put the public in danger, or its officers in this position.
The context for many Londoners is not only previous deaths in custody or following police contact – and the delay, obfuscation and lack of accountability in responding to them – but the broader overpolicing of black people, including through the excessive use of stop and search and the strip-searching of Child Q. The longstanding mistrust within the black community has now spread far more widely. The belief that “police do a good job in the local area” plummeted from 69% in June 2017 to 49% this summer across the capital.
That period saw the Met’s response to the death of Sarah Everard and the vigil that resulted; the taking and sharing of photographs of murder victims Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman by officers; the failings that inquests found “probably” contributed to the deaths of victims of the serial killer Stephen Port; and the finding that “institutional corruption” hampered the inquiry into private detective Daniel Morgan’s murder.
Sir Mark’s daunting task is to command the confidence of both his officers and the public. This looks increasingly difficult. He has indicated that he understands what is at stake, unlike his predecessor. He must now act accordingly.
