Commentary
| Date | 01 September 2007 |
| DOI | 10.1350/pojo.2007.80.3.189 |
| Published date | 01 September 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Commentary |
The
Police
Journal
COMMENTARY
In early November 2007 the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)
were found guilty of endangering the public safety following the
shooting by police officers of Jean Charles de Menezes, a
Brazilian who was mistaken for a suspected suicide bomber. The
Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) made 16
recommendations in its report into the fatal shooting and there
was widespread concern regarding the failures in communication
between officers and the limited briefings given to officers
involved in the operation. The MPS was fined a total of
£175,000 and ordered to pay £385,000 in compensation. Of the
many issues raised by this incident, which has cast a shadow
over the MPS and its Commissioner Sir Ian Blair, I would like to
highlight briefly two concerns within the limited scope of this
commentary.
First the incident has highlighted the need to examine the
relationship between the IPCC, responsible as it is for investigat-
ing fatal shootings by police officers, and the police force
responsible for managing a crime scene. The issue here is that at
the point of shooting Jean Charles police officers were convinced
he was a suspect and that the police were responsible for the
forensic management of the scene and for evidence gathering
and retention. The IPCC, however, were of the view that they
had primacy and that, once Jean Charles had been identified and
confirmation received that he had been mistakenly identified, the
responsibility for scene management was theirs. There is, obvi-
ously, a great deal more to expand on; however, the limitations
of this commentary prevent a more detailed analysis. The key
point is that the issue of decision making and primacy will
continue to be repeated as policing becomes more complex and
more agencies become involved in the delivery of policing
services.
The second point I wish to raise is that concerning police
decision making and one fear I have is that the court’s decision
The Police Journal, Volume 80 (2007) 189
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