Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced that police firearms officers who kill in the line of duty will not be named unless they are convicted. In a statement to the Commons, Cooper said there will be “a presumption” against publicly identifying officers facing criminal proceedings.
If the rules had been in place when Chris Kaba was shot dead, the name of police marksman Martyn Blake would never have been released. Mr Blake was cleared of murder by a jury on Monday.
Police intelligence discovered gangsters had offered rewards of up to £10,000 for his name and address following the shooting, reports the Mirror.
The Home Secretary stated: “When officers act in the most dangerous situations on behalf of the state it is vital that they and their families aren’t put in further danger during any subsequent legal proceedings.”
She expressed that the current accountability system is “not commanding the confidence” of police forces or the public.
She informed MPs there will be a swift independent review of the legal thresholds for using force by police – as the requirements for police to be charged is lower than the wider public. This is “not justified”, according to Cooper.
She also announced a new ‘lessons learned’ database will be established for deaths and serious injuries following police contact or pursuits. Regarding Monday’s verdict, Ms Cooper said: “It’s imperative that the jury’s verdict is respected and Sgt Blake and his family are given the time and space to recover from what will be an extremely difficult experience.”
She emphasised that officers “need to know they have strong public support”. This statement comes in the wake of Keir Starmer’s announcement that the Government will carry out the investigation into police use of force, a probe initially set up by the Tories last year.
The review was commissioned by then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman in September 2023 after Mr Blake faced murder charges for the shooting of Mr Kaba. Following the charge, over 100 Metropolitan Police firearms officers handed back their gun permits, raising concerns that the military might need to be called in for armed support.
The officer in question, who had pleaded not guilty to intending to kill Mr Kaba, was acquitted of murder on Monday at the Old Bailey trial. Mr Blake, aged 40, fatally shot the unarmed 24-year-old through the windscreen of an Audi Q8 during an attempt to evade police vehicles on September 5, 2022, in Streatham, South London.
The car had been marked by the police due to its connection with an earlier shooting in Brixton. Mr Kaba, who was expecting a child, was found to have no weapons in his car.
His death sparked protests against the police, and his family expressed enduring “the deep pain of injustice” after the trial’s outcome.
While en route to a summit in Samoa, Mr Starmer told reporters: “The jury has come to a decision in this case and we’ve got to respect the result of it. I do understand the pressure that firearms officers operate under having to make split second decisions in difficult, fast-moving circumstances. I obviously saw that for myself when I was prosecuting.”
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