Category Archives: Police

Police to deploy 10,000 officers for Queen’s funeral in biggest ever operation

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Officers drafted in from across country as hundreds of thousands of people expected in London and Windsor

Police chiefs say their operation for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral will be the biggest ever, with more than 10,000 officers on duty determined to thwart any attempt to disrupt or exploit the event.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line the funeral route through central London, and then in Windsor, Berkshire, where the late Queen will be buried, and the route in between.

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Chris Kaba’s family to be shown police video of events that led to his killing

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IOPC watchdog insists review of evidence led it to investigate firearms officer for homicide

The family of Chris Kaba will be allowed to watch police video of the incident that led to his killing, the Guardian has learned, as the police watchdog insisted evidence and not public pressure led it to investigate an officer for homicide offences.

Kaba, 24, who was unarmed, was shot once by an officer from the Metropolitan police on 5 September. The bullet struck him in the head as he sat in the driver’s seat of a car which had come under suspicion in Lambeth, south London. He died just over two hours later.

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Keir Starmer: protesters should respect those mourning Queen

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Labour leader defends right to protest but says it should not ruin people’s chance to express their private thanks

People who wish to protest against the monarchy should respect those mourning the Queen and not ruin their opportunity to express their private thanks, Keir Starmer has said.

Amid controversy over a small number of protesters being removed by police or arrested, the Labour leader told BBC Breakfast the right to protest and disagree was a British tradition, but he called for it to be done “in the spirit of respect”.

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Chris Kaba’s family demands suspension of Met officer involved in shooting

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Hundreds of protesters march through Whitehall demanding justice as police watchdog launches homicide investigation

The family of Chris Kaba has called for the immediate suspension of the Metropolitan police officer involved in his fatal shooting.

The 24-year-old, who was due to become a father for the first time, was shot dead by a firearms officer in Streatham, south London, on Monday night.

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Police watchdog launches homicide investigation into Met shooting of Chris Kaba

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Metropolitan police firearms officers fatally shot 24-year-old in Streatham Hill, south London, on Monday

The police watchdog has launched a homicide investigation into the fatal shooting of Chris Kaba by armed Metropolitan police officers in south London.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said this followed its review of the evidence gathered so far after the incident in Streatham Hill on Monday night.

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Suspect arrested over Canada mass stabbing dies from self-inflicted injuries

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Myles Sanderson went into ‘medical distress’ after his arrest, and later died in hospital, say police

The fugitive wanted over a mass stabbing in Canada that killed 10 people and injured 18 has died in hospital after his arrest, police have confirmed, with sources saying his death was the result of self-inflicted wounds.

Myles Sanderson went into “medical distress” after his arrest and was taken to hospital where he died, Royal Canadian Mounted police assistant commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said in a press conference on Wednesday night. Police found a knife in the truck, which officers had rammed off the road into a ditch, but Blackmore would not comment on the cause of his death.

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Police apologise for wrongful conviction of man executed 70 years ago

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Mahmood Mattan, a British Somali, was hanged in 1952 after he was found guilty of a murder in Cardiff

The family of a man wrongly convicted of murder has been given a police apology for the “terrible suffering” the miscarriage of justice caused, 70 years after he was executed in a British prison.

Mahmood Mattan, a British Somali father of three, was hanged aged 28 in September 1952 after he was convicted of killing Lily Volpert in her Cardiff clothes store. He protested his innocence to the end.

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Officer who wrote Met’s drug strategy smoked cannabis daily, panel told

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Commander Julian Bennett refused to take a drug test in 2020 after his lodger contacted police alleging drug use

A senior Metropolitan police commander who wrote the force’s drug strategy allegedly smoked cannabis in front of his lodger every day, a gross misconduct hearing has been told.

Commander Julian Bennett later threatened to resign when he was asked to take a drug test on 21 July 2020, a disciplinary panel heard.

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No clear winners after Winsor report on Cressida Dick’s exit

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Former Met chief given support by findings, but London mayor Sadiq Khan’s move against her remains popular

Amid the claim and counter-claim, the huffing and puffing and the machinations detailed by Tom Winsor’s report on the ousting of Cressida Dick, one thing is clear: there definitely was a political hit job. The mystery is: who was the target?

Winsor’s version has Dick, a hard-working Metropolitan police commissioner, taken out by an ambitious local politician, when the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, had no good reason to.

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Retired NYPD officer receives longest sentence yet for attack on Capitol

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Thomas Webster was given a 10-year prison time for six charges, including assaulting an officer with a metal flagpole

A retired New York police department officer has received a record-setting 10- year sentence for his involvement in the Capitol attack, during which he used a metal flagpole to assault one of the police officers trying to hold off a mob of Donald Trump supporters.

Thomas Webster was sentenced on Thursday, and his prison time will represent the longest punishment so far for the roughly 250 people facing punishment for their role in the January 6 attack.

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Stephen Port: murder victims’ families say Met ‘insensitive’ to make settlements public

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Relatives ‘caught completely off guard’ by announcement of compensation – and two families have still to settle

The Metropolitan police have been accused of “insensitivity” over their announcement that they have settled compensation claims with relatives of some of the victims murdered by the serial killer Stephen Port.

Families were taken completely by surprise at the public announcement, while claims brought by relatives of two of the victims have yet to be settled, the families’ spokesperson said.

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UK police asking officers to disclose any personal ties with news reporters

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Freedom of speech groups raise over clampdown, which only came to light by accident

Police chiefs have been issuing secret orders telling officers to inform bosses if they know any news reporters – as they would have to do with convicted criminals or extremists.

The measure is already in place in some forces, and follows guidance from the College of Policing, which sets standards in law enforcement. It is part of anti-corruption efforts and only came to light by accident.

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IOPC rules out inquiry into armed police stop of Ricardo dos Santos

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Watchdog refers case back to Met police for its own investigation over sprinter’s claims of aggression and racism

The police watchdog has ruled out an investigation into the Metropolitan police’s treatment of an athlete who was pulled over in his car by seven armed officers.

Ricardo dos Santos, a Portuguese sprinter based in London, released a video of the incident in central London that took place earlier this month.

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Owami Davies: police issued CCTV images showing wrong woman

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Met hurriedly apologised and withdrew images that it initially said showed missing woman in a shop

The Metropolitan police issued pictures of the wrong black woman in an early appeal for information about the missing student nurse Owami Davies, it has emerged.

As the force’s handling of the case faces increased scrutiny, it has come to light that Scotland Yard issued CCTV images on 3 August that it said showed Davies in a shop in Croydon, but in fact showed another woman.

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Police leaders promise crackdown on officers who are abusive to women

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College of Policing for England and Wales is planning policies to deal with harassment and racism in forces after string of scandals

Police leaders have admitted officers were kept on duty who should be sacked as they launched a promised crackdown on those who attack, abuse or harass women.

A series of scandals have rocked confidence in policing, with its leaders under pressure to do more to eliminate what one police chief called “toxic behaviour and [a] damaging culture”.

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Sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos pulled over by police in London for second time

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Athlete and his partner, sprinter Bianca Williams, were stopped and handcuffed two years ago

An athlete who was allegedly racially profiled during a stop and search two years ago has said he was pulled over for a second time by “seven armed officers” while driving home in London at the weekend.

The Portuguese sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos published a series of tweets and video footage of him being pulled over and questioned by police.

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‘Odious’ police officer made up fake girlfriend’s death to get days off

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Harry Sarkar resigned from West Midlands force after lying about a girlfriend who he said had cancer

A former police officer who pretended to have a girlfriend who died of cancer to get days off work has been condemned for his “odious” behaviour.

Harry Sarkar misled colleagues and supervisors at West Midlands police, where he was a constable, with a “detailed tissue of lies” about a fake girlfriend who he claimed became sick with cancer and died, a hearing was told. He even lied about her funeral.

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Gay rights campaigner welcomes Isle of Man police apology

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Police chief’s apology for way laws against homosexuality were enforced described as ‘long overdue’

A campaigner who came to symbolise the battle for gay rights on the Isle of Man has welcomed a “long overdue” apology from a police chief for the way the island’s laws against homosexuality were enforced.

In a five page letter to the Isle of Pride group, Gary Roberts, the chief constable of Isle of Man constabulary, makes an apology for his service’s “institutionalised approach, which caused harm to some people”.

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Revealed: Met police strip-searched 650 children in two-year period

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Appropriate adults were often absent during the search, and the majority of children were innocent

The children’s commissioner for England has denounced the Metropolitan police’s record on child protection after new data revealed that 650 children were strip-searched over a two-year period and the majority were found to be innocent of the suspicions against them.

Dame Rachel de Souza said she was not convinced that the force was “consistently considering children’s welfare and wellbeing” after police data showed that in almost a quarter of cases (23%) an appropriate adult was not present during the search, despite this being a requirement under statutory guidance.

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Drink-driving Queensland mayor Karen Williams sentenced to community service

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Redland mayor Karen Williams has apologised for the incident, calling it a single lapse of judgment

A Queensland mayor who recorded a blood alcohol test of more than three times the legal limit has been ordered to do community service.

Redland’s mayor, Karen Williams, pleaded guilty to drink-driving on Monday, describing the incident as a single lapse of judgment in 18 years of public service.

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