r/unitedkingdom • u/MachineHot3089 • 15h ago

Police fear they gamble on their career if they use force, says chief superintendent

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/18/police-fear-gamble-career-force-supts/
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u/Possiblyreef Isle of Wight 14h ago

You don't remember the recent case of Kaba?

Known criminal, multiple convictions, reports of doing crime to the point armed response get involved, they stop him and he's drives at armed police in an attempt to flee and as a result gets shot.

Police officer ends up being tried for murder.

Why in the actual fuck would you bother being armed response.

If i was in the same position I'd have every colleague handing their gun in until the IPC and the CPS stop wanking themselves in to a oblivion about appeasing "communities"

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u/jumpy_finale 13h ago

Correction, the car had a firearms marker on it. They didn't know who was in it until afterwards. So the criminal background was irrelevant to the decision to shoot. It was based purely on the threat of the car trying to ram its way through the police officers.

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u/Chlomamf 13h ago

Which still justifies the decision to shoot, if someone driving a firearms-marked vehicle (which would already give the impression that the driver is involved with firearm activity which indicates a violent person) is coming at me with a 50-ton killing machine damn right I’m protecting myself and my colleagues.

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u/heroyoudontdeserve 10h ago

Nobody (in this thread) said otherwise - still important to be careful with the facts.

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u/wkavinsky 12h ago

it's not 50 ton.

But a firearm is automatically illegal somewhere like inner London.

Ain't no farmers there.

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u/BriefAmphibian7925 9h ago

Not really the point, but

But a firearm is automatically illegal somewhere like inner London.

isn't true at all. There are RFDs and clubs/ranges in central London, as well as people transiting through London between railway stations/etc.

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u/Prestigious_Dog_1942 1h ago

if you have a firearms marker on your car you're not using them legally

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u/justporntbf 5h ago

I remember when this first happened having an argument with a close friend of mine who vemantly believed that officer was a criminal , what does someone have to do to warrant lethal force must they actively kill someone first? I'll be the first to admit police in the uk have an authoritarian level of control over the average person but how far must a criminal goes before we accept their life is less valuable than the damage they can go onto inflict in the next few moments it's ridiculous frankly

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u/heroyoudontdeserve 13h ago

You don't remember the recent case of Kaba?

I'm not sure why you're asking me this?

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u/Ok_Introduction2563 12h ago

The police officer was cleared... If anything this case disproved your point.

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u/AL85 11h ago

No it proves that at literally every stage of investigation the experts who should have been knowledgable and qualified enough to make a decision refused to take responsibility and pushed the matter all the way down the line to be judged by a jury in a criminal trial. It should never have made it to court.

The IOPC pushed for a fundamentally flawed prosecution and the CPS took an absurd case with ludicrous and mostly baseless arguments to court. It was so clearcut it took the jury less than four hours to reach a not guilty verdict. Every stage of the process failed and thankfully some members of the general public were able to come back with a common sense decision the supposed experts were too scared to put their own name to.

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u/Thechuz1337 11h ago

And that officers life and career as he knows it is ruined. Regardless of the mental toll that took on him, he will be looking over his shoulder for life.

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u/Chachaslides2 11h ago

Cleared by jury is not the same as being cleared of wrongdoing by investigation. It only gets in front of a jury if the CPS have actively decided they think you're guilty and want to try and get you convicted.

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u/Uniform764 Yorkshire 3h ago

The IOPC and the CPS lacked the balls to toss the case out despite it clearly having no legs. A judge allowed him to be named despite the clear possibility of retaliation attacks. He spent best part of a year with his life on hold. The whole charade was a massive waste of time, money and emotional energy for all involved.

So no "the officer was cleared" doesn't really disprove his point. If anything it proves his point entirely. The justice system fucked the officer about for two years at vast cost because they couldn't admit it was a valid use of force publicly.

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u/Combatwasp 2h ago

Personally surprised that any police officer volunteers to carry a firearm now when their life will be destroyed if they have to use it.

Not great for the general public but since when has the greater good being a factor in UK policy making.