Tuesday, July 18, 2006



The usual whitewash

The Crown Prosecution Service's decision into the Stockwell shooting has been released, and as expected, its the usual whitewash. No police officer will be charged over Jean Charles de Menezes's death - not the officers who slowly and systematically shot him eight times in the head at close range, or their comrades who botched the surveillance and then tried to falsify evidence to hide the fact. Instead, police department will be prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work Act (the equivalent of OSH regulations) for "failing to provide for the health, safety and welfare" of Mr Menezes. Meanwhile, the Independent Police Complaints Commission's report into the shooting - on which the CPS decision is based, and which reportedly is highly critical of the police - remains secret. Thus does the British establishment protect its own.

This is simply insulting. A dead man is crying out for justice, and instead the British government is covering its own arse. Fortunately, the de Mezenes family aren't taking this lying down. Their next step will be to push for an inquest, and the full publication of the IPCC report. After that, they may either seek a judicial review of the CPS's decision, or even bring a private prosecution against the officers involved. If the government and authorities won't hold people accountable, then they'll just have to do it themselves...

4 comments:

Personally, I don't think the officers on the ground should be charged - they were acting on faulty intelligence.

Posted by Duncan Bayne : 7/18/2006 04:55:00 PM

"Personally, I don't think the officers on the ground should be charged - they were acting on faulty intelligence."

Duncan, have you stopped long enough to think this one through?
Then please get creative and outline what possible faulty intelligence could lead (in a free and democratic country) to a police team mounting a "reasonable response" which included chasing a suspect through a railway station, wrestling him to the ground and popping 8 rounds in his head. It removes all that messiness with guilty till proven innocent I guess..

It wasn't a reasonable response, it was a complete f*ck-up over-reaction by the officers concerned. And since around 1945 the "I was ordered to" defense has ceased to stand up well.. cops are no less responsible for their own actions than citizens. In fact, they should be held more accountable, as they're supposed to be the specialists in dealing with out of control people.

Yes, the inquiry needs to also go further up the foodchain. But those officers belong in the dock alongside.

Posted by Anonymous : 7/18/2006 08:34:00 PM

Somebody needs to be held accountable.

This was an innocent person who was totally unrelated to events that were taking place in London at the time. Tough as the Police job was, we all have to know that we are safe from being shot. W

hy was the intelligence so far off mark ? Nobody seems to have answered that.

Also why was there so many cover ups and false statements about the victim after the event. This was incredibly unfair on the family.

The Police have a tough job to do, but that is no excuse for not doing it well.

Before killing anybody (or anything), correct identification is a given.

Posted by Anonymous : 7/21/2006 11:25:00 PM

The rapid dissemination of lies by the police was despicable (wearing a puffa jacket, running from them etc.)

The UK is feeling very, very rotten at the moment. Blair is a vile, lying, odious little man.

Posted by Anonymous : 7/25/2006 12:30:00 AM