Britain: Must not punish an outspoken lesbian

The whole "go easy" over this atrocious case was about protecting Cressida Dickless and her lack of judgment



The officer in charge of the bungled surveillance operation that ended with an innocent man being shot dead on the London Underground will not be disciplined, the police watchdog said yesterday. The Independent Police Complaints Commission said that the mistakes made by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick and three senior Scotland Yard officers on the day that Jean Charles de Menezes was shot did not amount to personal misconduct.

Mr de Menezes's family called the IPCC's decision "a scandal". But the IPCC said that its decision reflected the view of the Old Bailey jury, which convicted the Metropolitan Police of endangering the public during the operation, that Ms Dick was not personally culpable. Mr de Menezes, 27, a Brazilian electrician, was killed when he was mistaken for a suicide bomber on July 22, 2005. He was shot seven times in the head at point-blank range by two firearms officers using dum-dum bullets.

A spokesman for the IPCC said: "The health and safety trial verdict made it clear that mistakes were made that could have been avoided. The issue considered by the IPCC was whether those mistakes amounted to personal misconduct." All disciplinary reviews in the Stockwell case have now been concluded.

Vivian Figuierdo, a cousin of the dead man, said: "Sadly we have come to expect this from the IPCC - if the jury found the police guilty of catastrophic errors, why is it that no officer is being held individually accountable?"

Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said that despite the controversy over the shooting he never felt that he should resign. He said: "In terms of my commissionership, it is likely that it will be remembered as the major disaster on my watch. What I hope is that in the years to come I'll be judged on the whole of my term of office and not just on that single awful event." Sir Ian also used an interview with Radio 4's Today programme to criticise the decision by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, not to fund the 2.5 per cent police pay deal. He said: "I think this is a mistake . . . because not enough notice has been taken of the special nature of policing in the sense that police officers don't have the right to strike."

The Chief Constables of Cambridgeshire and Essex have declined to distribute the Home Secretary's Christmas message to their officers. Essex Police chief Roger Baker said: "I feel that her message is not consistent with the decision over pay."

Report here



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