0:00
Good to see you this morning, Danny. And this Metropolitan Police officer in this shooting may now be sacked, despite the fact that he was cleared by a jury
0:10
Yes, that's right. He was cleared unanimously by a jury after three hours of deliberation last year, cleared of murder
0:19
And yet he now faces a misconduct hearing for gross misconduct over allegations that he used excessive force when he shot dead Chris Caber
0:28
notorious gangster in September 2022 in South London, because he feared, the officer said he feared that he or his colleagues
0:37
were going to be run over by Cabba, who had refused to stop his car
0:42
and was ramming it backwards and forwards. So the misconduct hearing into his use of excessive force
0:48
will be held probably next year. It means another agonising wait for the officer
0:54
And to me, it just doesn't make any sense at all. This is a consequence of the rather absurd rules that are in place over misconduct, rules and regulations that basically say that even though you've been cleared in a criminal trial, that the actions have been scrutinised, have been gone through frame by frame, that grainy footage of what happened in that night has been ysed over and over again
1:21
the jury has given a clear ruling, there is still the possibility that he could be sacked
1:27
It doesn't make any sense. Are you concerned as well, Danny, about the precedent that this could
1:32
potentially set for firearms officers who have to make those split decisions to ensure their own safety but also the safety of their colleagues and the public as well Are you concerned that you could see firearms officers walk out over this potentially
1:48
Well, we've already had a sort of protest at the time when the officer, Sergeant Martin Blake, was charged
1:55
Some firearms officers declined to carry on with their duties. There isn't a sort of huge pool of firearms officers
2:03
willing to take up that role. There are some shortages in some parts of the country
2:08
It's a very specialised role. There's a lot of training involved, a lot of assessment
2:15
And so what I think you have is a situation where we expect the highest standards from our firearms officers
2:23
And we expect that if they do make a mistake and there's a or there is a fatal shooting
2:28
there must be an investigation and officers who make mistakes or errors of judgment
2:33
there must be scrutiny of that but we should also expect that the system of misconduct rules and
2:40
regulations should be proportionate and fair as well and I don't think personally that having had
2:47
a trial at the Old Bailey with intense scrutiny of the decisions that this officer made in a split
2:54
second I don't think it's fair or proportionate for him to have to undergo a second level of
3:00
scrutiny with a misconduct hearing. I just don't see the benefit. I just don't see who that serves
3:06
I understand why the decision was made by the watchdog, the IOPC, because they're following
3:10
the laws and the regulations as they are in place at the moment. But I don't think those
3:16
laws and regulations are fit for purpose. Okay. Danny Shaw, crime and policing commentator
3:21
good to see you on the programme this morning. Thank you very much
