Little of what transpired would have been prevented had the officers been armed – the damage had been done by the time they’d arrived, says Mirror Assistant Editor Darren Lewis
No, no – and a thousand times no. Within hours of the horror that unfolded in Hainault last week, including the murder of 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin, the debates had begun.
Should we routinely hand guns to police across the country? No, we shouldn’t. Of course not. Some basic truths to begin with. The suspected sword-wielding attacker was eventually taken down by a taser. The police arrived within 12 minutes of being called and had him neutralised within 22.
Little of what transpired would have been prevented had the officers been armed. The damage had been done by the time they’d arrived. So calls for guns on the streets are opportunistic, raised by people no longer even talking about Daniel less than a week after the incident.
We are still waiting for answers to the questions over how unarmed Chris Kaba, shot in a car in South London in September 2022, came to lose his life. Following an Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation and a decision by the Crown Prosecution Service – the official bodies whose role it is to hold the force and its officers to account – an officer has been charged with his murder.
Regarding last week in Hainault, credit must go to the officers who placed themselves in harm’s way, two of whom were seriously injured. With family in the force, I will never underestimate the bravery of the men and women who run towards the danger as we members of the public run for lives. But even before we get to questions around who
funds the extra training to arm them with guns, we can’t escape the many well-documented questions in relation to the force.
You know the areas already – disproportionate force, sexism, racism, stop and search, WhatsApp content and improper conduct. Dame Louise Casey, in her review of the standards of the Metropolitan Police last year, identified a culture of entitlement and a subversion of authority, concluding Black Londoners are “over-policed”.
Are we really arguing officers, over whom there are so many red flags, should be handed more deadly weapons? Dozens of Black people have been accidentally or unlawfully shot in the USA. A worrying number here have died in police custody in circumstances that have required further attention.
Imagine how much worse it would have been had the officers chastised for their handling of the Sarah Everard vigil had guns to intimidate protesters. Are we really saying that, given how rare it is for an officer to be charged after a shooting – and the questionable handling of so many cases – we should be arming more officers?
Trust in our police forces remains at an all-time low with a perception of officers feeling themselves to be above the law. Throwing guns into the mix would only make a potent cocktail even more deadly.