Sir Mark Rowley Says Armed Police Officers Fear ‘Legal Processes’ More Than Terrorists

The commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, has said firearms officers believe they would get a fairer hearing if they shoot a terrorist.

A forensics officer takes photographs of the scene where 24-year-old Chris Kaba was killed by police in Kirkstall Gardens, Streatham Hill, south London, on Sept. 5, 2022. PA

The commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, has said many of his firearms officers would rather face off with terrorists than gangsters because they believe they are more likely to get a “fair hearing” if they end up using their weapons.

In an interview with The Sun, Sir Mark said, “One thing that’s really startled me is I’ve had some of our firearms officers say to me they would rather end up ­confronting on the streets a well-trained terrorist than a gangster because even though they would face far more personal danger with the terrorist, they believe they’d get a fair hearing in terms of the legal processes that follow.”

“Whereas with a gangster, they feel that campaign groups can influence accountability in a way that leads to something that’s unbalanced and lasts forever,” he added.

The head of Britain’s biggest police force was speaking as one of his firearms officers faces trial next year for the murder of Chris Kaba, a 24-year-old black man who was shot dead as he drove an Audi in Streatham, south London, in Sep. 2022.

At the time of the shooting, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the Audi, which was not registered to Mr. Kaba, had activated an automatic number plate recognition camera, which indicated it had been linked to a firearms offence a few days before.

Mr. Kaba, who was also known as Itch or Mad Itch, was a rapper with a drill group called 67, which has been involved in a long-running feud in south London.

In Sep. 2023, the officer who fired the fatal shot, who was identified only as NX121, was charged with murder and given bail ahead of his trial next year.

Anonymity Order on NX121 Lifted

But last month the recorder of London, Judge Mark Lucraft, KC, decided he would lift the anonymity order at the end of Jan. 2024.

The Chris Kaba case, and the treatment of W80, the officer who shot dead Jermaine Baker during an operation to thwart the attempted springing of a gangster on his way to court, have both been greeted with horror by firearms officers, many of whom have chosen to quit the role.

Undated family handout photo of Jermaine Baker, who was shot dead by police near Wood Green Crown Court on Dec. 11, 2015. Baker family/PA

Earlier this month the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s armed policing lead, Simon Chesterman, warned the days of officers volunteering for firearms duties may be over, and chief constables may be forced to order, or mandate, personnel to carry guns.

Mr. Chesterman said, “The only way that we can mandate officers carrying firearms is by recruiting officers to be firearms officers, and my worry is that, after hundreds of years of tradition in this country of having an unarmed police service, we could be sleepwalking into having to mandate officers to carry firearms.”

Sir Mark said he was aggrieved W80 was facing a gross misconduct hearing over his actions on Dec. 11, 2015, despite a public inquiry—which began as an inquest—concluding Baker’s death had been lawful.

The commissioner said: “An inquest has looked at that shooting and the inquiry was content with integrity. Yet the IOPC have mandated he is now going to go on a gross misconduct hearing and we are eight years post-events.”

W80’s Career in ‘Suspended Animation’ for 8 Years

“Even regardless of the rights and wrongs of the IOPC decision, to have someone’s career in suspended animation with that stress for eight years is not acceptable,” added Sir Mark.

Last week Sir Mark reacted angrily at the end of the trial of PC Paul Fisher and criticised the decision to prosecute the officer, who had been speeding to the scene of a terrorist attack in Streatham in Feb. 2020.

PC Fisher, 46, made a “split-second error” when he lost control of his unmarked BMW X5 and collided with several cars en route to Streatham, where terrorist Sudesh Amman was stabbing innocent members of the public after grabbing a knife from a shop display.

Amman—who had been released from prison after serving a sentence for terror offences—was shot dead by other police officers.

PC Fisher was cleared of dangerous driving at Southwark Crown Court on Friday and outside court, Sir Mark said the decision to prosecute him, “undermines the confidence of all officers using their powers to keep the public safe.”

He said: “Thank god for the common sense of British juries. Paul Fisher is a firearms officer who was under the most unimaginable pressure. He clearly made some mistakes on that drive, the right answer would have been some warnings within the organisation, some re-training, some re-testing to getting back to protecting the public.”