On March 10, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh, now a BJP Lok Sabha MP, revealed certain new details in the House on the Ishrat Jehan “encounter” case. He is quoted as having said, “If the London police were to chase a suspected terrorist and gun him down and later say that it was a case of mistaken identity, no one would harangue it.”
Singh’s facts are not correct if he is referring to the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, an electrician of Brazilian origin on July 22, 2005, at Stockwell station. The London Railway suicide bombings of July 7, 2005, had killed 52. Another serial bombing attempt occurred on July 21 the same year when CCTV captured images of four suspects.
On July 22, a Metropolitan Police (MET) surveillance team tracked Menezes and thought that he matched the description. They alerted the “Gold Command” for a specialist armed unit which shot him in his head. Later events proved that Menezes was innocent, forcing the MET to issue a public apology.
MET’s Laws Of Engagement
This was the first time MET faced suicide bombings. Its rules of engagement under the earlier laws of warning suspects first and not shooting in the head were not amended to face suicide terrorists who could detonate their concealed bombs if challenged. Experience in other countries revealed that only a head shot could neutralise a suicide terrorist for preventing larger public risk.
Since the real culprits were yet to be arrested, Commissioner Sir Ian Blair wrote to the Home Office on July 22 recommending that the mandatory investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into the death under Section 17 of the Police Reform Act, 2002, be waived. Instead, he assured that MET itself would conduct the inquiry and the officers prosecuted if “deliberate malfeasance” was proved.
However, the Home Office and IPCC rejected the suggestion. IPCC started its inquiry. The police’s morale plunged. Open squabbles between IPCC and MET started, following leaks of IPCC investigation by ITV (British TV). On May 9, 2006, the 30,000-strong Metropolitan Police Federation openly criticised the IPCC for frustrating their efforts in checking terrorism.
Commissioner to Take Blame
In July 2006, the independent Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that no individual charges would be made against any officer, but the commissioner would face criminal charges under the Health and Safety Work Act, 1974, for failing to provide safety to Menezes.
On November 1, 2007, the court found Sir Ian guilty in his official capacity. He was fined £560,000. The Menezes family contested the CPS decision and appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. The official “inquest” by the coroner started in September 2008. It ended in an “open verdict” (death suspicious, but reason not clear).
The case was finally closed in November 2009 when the commissioner and the Menezes family settled all their disputes through a joint statement mentioning that Menezes “was a totally innocent victim” and that the family had accepted a compensation package.
Meeting Terror Threats
The British police now have an unenviable task of meeting heightened terrorism threat from Islamic State with a reduced force due to 20 percent cut in their overall strength. On November 21, 2015, the National Police Chiefs’ Council revealed a 15 percent drop in the number of armed officers since 2008, a 21 percent fall in London and reduction by almost half in some other areas. The new policy, popularly known as “shoot to kill” announced by the British prime minister in December, by giving more protection to the officers to face Paris-style attacks is yet to be codified.
Despite this the UK police is not giving up its traditional policing without guns. Dave Thompson, the new Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, said on January 13, 2016: “The aim of being a trusted and friendly service gets harder the more we look like an armed service. That is not our tradition and I don’t see why the threat from Daesh (IS) should disrupt what has been a long established policing tradition in this country.”
(The writer is a former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, and a member of the High-Level Committee which enquired into the police performance during 26/11 Mumbai)
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