Issue 313  30th September 2023

Suella Braverman has ordered a review of armed policing after dozens of Metropolitan police officers stepped back from firearms duties after an officer was charged with murder over a shooting... The review follows reports that more than 70 police marksmen said they want time to consider whether or not they wish to still carry a gun given their colleague is facing a murder charge. Other armed officers have reportedly declined to go out on regular armed patrol, remaining instead at their stations, while some said they will respond only in emergency situations...

The Commissioner has called for reform of the way police officers are held to account, particularly when they use force or undertake pursuits in the course of their duties. Sir Mark Rowley said this area of law and regulation is "long overdue for reform to address a number of imbalances". He welcomed the announcement of a review by Home Secretary Suella Braverman in to how the actions of officers are scrutinised...

As part of the review, the Met would welcome consideration of the following changes to regulations or primary legislation:

• Amendments to ensure the application of the subjective criminal law test for self-defence in police misconduct, not the objective civil test. One simple test will avoid delay, simplify the process and provide better protection for the public.
• The introduction of the criminal standard of proof for unlawful killing in inquests and inquiries. This will avoid the confusion caused when different conclusions are reached in criminal and coronial cases.
• Changes to the threshold at which the IOPC can launch criminal or misconduct investigations. Too often investigations are announced when only a minimal interrogation of the facts has taken place, damaging public confidence, only for further enquiries to establish criminality or wrongdoing either wasn’t borne out at the level initially suggested, or at any level at all. The IOPC should not be able to launch such investigations based only on a mere ‘indication’ of an offence or wrongdoing. It would be more sensible for the threshold to be a ‘reasonable suspicion’ as in most other areas of criminal law.

The Met would also welcome the review considering the following issues of policy and practice in organisations handling cases of police complaints or use of force:

• Investigate how CPS policy can strengthen the legal protection for officers who use force. Officers are entitled to operate with clarity on the decision-making process, and so there is an associated need to rapidly understand the rationale where charges are brought to enable consideration of the potential impact on the training that is currently in place.
• The introduction of time limits for the IOPC and CPS in order to reduce the punitive impact on officers of lengthy investigatory and legal processes and ensure the public see rapid resolutions where wrongdoing has occurred.
• Improving the balance in communications and the release of information following an incident to ensure public confidence in policing is emphasised and matters which may cause community tensions are managed more effectively. A presumption of providing more contextual information about the incidents as part of the initial narrative should be introduced.

Police officers are switching off their body-worn cameras when force is used, as well as deleting footage and sharing videos on WhatsApp. A BBC investigation has uncovered more than 150 reports of camera misuse by forces in England and Wales - described as "shocking" by a leading officer... The roll-out of body-worn cameras, costing at least £90m over the past decade, was intended to benefit both victims and the police - protecting officers against malicious complaints and improving the quality of evidence collected. But during a two-year investigation, the BBC has obtained hundreds of reports of misuse from Freedom of Information requests, police sources, misconduct hearings and regulator reports. The cameras were introduced to improve policing transparency, but we found more than 150 camera misuse reports with cases to answer over misconduct, recommendations for learning or where complaints were upheld...

The most serious allegations include:

• Cases in seven forces where officers shared camera footage with colleagues or friends - either in person, via WhatsApp or on social media
• Images of a naked person being shared between officers on email and cameras used to covertly record conversations
• Footage being lost, deleted or not marked as evidence, including video, filmed by Bedfordshire Police, of a vulnerable woman alleging she had been raped by an inspector - the force later blamed an "administrative error"
• Switching off cameras during incidents, for which some officers faced no sanctions - one force said an officer may have been "confused"

The failures uncovered by the BBC are "unlawful" in some cases, says the National Police Chief Council's lead for body-worn video, Acting Chief Constable Jim Colwell.

Protesters against the decision to prosecute a 68-year-old for contempt of court, after she held a sign addressed to jurors outside a London court, held their own signs outside Crown courts across the country. Trudi Warner held up a sign outside Inner London Crown Court earlier this year where a climate trial was taking place. The sign read: ‘Jurors, you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience.’ The retired social worker was protesting against restrictions on the defendants preventing them from mentioning climate change in their defence. The trial involved Insulate Britain protestors.

More than 200 people today replicated her action outside courts around the country, including in London, Bristol and Manchester, as part of Defend Our Juries, a public campaign which aims to ‘raise awareness of the vital constitutional safeguard that juries can acquit a defendant as a matter of conscience, irrespective of a judge’s direction that there is no available defence’.

The new director of the Serious Fraud Office, Nick Ephgrave begins his initial five-year term today. His first week in the role will see him address the SFO’s staff and meet representatives from law enforcement agencies and international prosecuting authorities. Ephgrave said: ‘Fraud wrecks lives and undermines the economy. I am committed to building the strong, dynamic and pragmatic authority the UK needs to fight today’s most heinous economic crimes.’

The new director is the first non-lawyer to head the SFO and will occupy in the role for an initial term of five years. Ephgrave previously served as assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service and chief constable for Surrey Police. Most recently, he was chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Criminal Justice Co-ordination Committee, and held roles on the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee and at the Sentencing Council...

A record number of trials have been adjourned at the last-minute because of failures to bring defendants from prison to court, The Independent can reveal. These failures – linked to severe overcrowding in prisons – can delay proceedings for months at “untold” costs to the taxpayer, while “keeping juries waiting and increasing the anxiety of all concerned”, warned the Criminal Bar Association...

Their analysis of Ministry of Justice figures dating back to 2010 showed 58 trials were postponed because of no-shows or late deliveries of prisoners in the crown courts alone during the first three months of this year – 23 of which involved alleged violent and sexual offences, including rape. This is the highest quarterly figure in records stretching back to 2010, having quadrupled since the same period in 2022. Further analysis by The Independent shows it is three times higher than the average in the decade to 2021, excluding 2020 when the pandemic halted in-person trials...