Justice for Jean Charles de Menezes!

Helen Shaw, co-director INQUEST

Widespread and wide-ranging outrage followed the shooting dead of Jean Charles de Menezes by the police and the new and secret "shoot to kill" policy that currently governs police use of firearms. Most recently controversy about the investigation and the misleading information that was allowed to remain in the public domain has gathered pace leading to calls for Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to resign.

Questions have been asked about how there can be a "shoot to kill" policy on the streets of London. Why has police policy changed without, parliamentary scrutiny? Why has misleading information about Jean Charles remained uncorrected by the police? Shouldn't the public be told the truth? These questions echo those raised by the de Menezes family and many other families whose relatives have died after police shootings or deaths involving other weapons or force. Everyone who shares these concerns should ensure that this death is the one that makes a difference.
The drift towards an ever more unaccountable and routinely armed police force operating within a policy framework that has not been subject to any external scrutiny must stop. We now hear that the police are conducting an internal review of the shoot to kill policy -but we cannot accept an internal review.

As has happened in previous cases the pattern of misinformation ,put into the public domain sought to imply Mr de Menezes is somehow to blame for his own death and to justify the decision to shoot. The comment by Ian Blair that this may happen again and its implication that we have to accept deaths as one of the risks of policing London are really alarming. It appears to pre-judge the outcome of the investigation into the death and also to argue that this "shoot to kill" policy is necessary and justified. But it is a violation of the "presumption of innocence" -the most fundamental principle of British law -and is contrary to all international human rights standards.

In February 2005 Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner suggested police officers who shoot someone in the line of duty should be granted immunity from prosecution for murder in some cases. He tried to stop the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation into the death despite the fact that regulations require referral to the IPCC within 24 hours and despite the fact that the shooting of Jean Charles occurred under a new and secret policy which meant that the independence of the investigation was even more crucial. One of the main reasons the IPCC was set up was to stop the police investigating themselves.

Voices of concern and criticism must not be silenced by the wider concerns about public safety. The two are not mutually exclusive. The facts remain that an innocent man was shot dead by the police. The police cannot act as judge, jury and executioner whatever the context. The role of politicians and the public is to debate, scrutinise and ultimately make democratic decisions about the policy framework in which police make operational decisions. The police cannot perform that function for themselves.

We should continue to raise critical concerns, insist on democratic, robust, rigorous and external scrutiny of police conduct and support the family of Jean Charles de Menezes in their quest for justice.

INQUEST www.inquest.org.uk
Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign www.justice4jean.com