Police complaints should be disbanded

Submitted by AWL on 21 April, 2015 - 5:28 Author: Ellie Clarke

At the end of March the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) cleared all police officers involved in the shooting of Mark Duggan of any wrong doing.

This comes as no surprise. The IPCC have little credibility and their involvement in the Duggan case has been questionable from the get go.

The IPCC told the media Duggan had shot at police first, a claim that was later disproven by ballistics and witnesses. And under a Freedom of Information request obtained by the Institute of Race Relations it has now been shown that the IPCC actually with-held information from the media about one police office being shot at by another, a fact which undermined the media story about Duggan firing a shot.

The IPCC also claimed Duggan was a known gangster despite the fact he had only ever been convicted of manor crimes such as cannabis possession and handling stolen goods.

The IPCC report favours the side of the Metropolitan Police even more than the findings of the original inquest in 2014. The report claims Duggan was probably in the process of throwing the gun when officer “V53” shot him dead. This flies in the face of the verdict of the original jury, who almost unanimously agreed Duggan in fact had no gun on him at the time he was shot and probably dumped it either during or before exiting the cab.

The IPCC and the policy have a very cosy relationship. IRR analysis shows IPCC press releases were sent to the Met for comment and amendment before being sent out.

And the investigators appointed by the IPPC were told to “work on the hypothesis that Duggan had a gun and was pointing it at officers at the moment of the shooting” (Guardian, 25 March).

Since 1990, 1,433 people died either during or following police custody yet the number of convicted officers remains zero. The shooting of Mark Duggan and its aftermath only serve as further evidence that no one, especially not the IPCC, are policing the police.

The IPCC are unfit for purpose so should be dissolved and replaced with an open, democratically accountable body.

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