By throwing doubt on the CPS’s decision to charge an officer, ministers and Sir Mark Rowley risk weakening their own reforms
When Sir Mark Rowley was appointed as commissioner of the Metropolitan police, he pledged to oversee “the renewal of policing by consent” by rooting out corruption and rebuilding public trust. The force is widely acknowledged to be facing its worst crisis since the 1970s. Addressing past wrongdoing would, Sir Mark warned earlier this year, take time. While austerity is partly to blame for the state the force is in, so is an institutional culture that provides cover for discriminatory behaviour and criminal wrongdoing. Tackling this, while improving performance, requires robust external oversight as well as internal change.
The announcement last week that an officer has been charged with the murder of Chris Kaba, who was unarmed when he was shot in a car in south London in September last year, followed an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and a decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). These are the official bodies whose role it is to hold the force and its officers to account. So it is dismaying, given his stated commitment to reforming the Met and restoring confidence in it, that Sir Mark has responded by calling for the policies of both organisations, and the threshold for the use of force, to be reexamined now.
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