Police officer cleared

I was bought up in a big city in the 1970s, had a lot of black schoolfriends and remember absolutely shocking instances of how some of their male relatives were treated by the police under the sus law. I'm certain there are sadly and indefensibly still victims of racist policing.

Chris Kaba isn't one of them and his family attempting to promote a false narrative to hide his criminal career are doing their entire community a huge disservice.

Yes they knew he was unarmed after the incident but given his propensity for carrying and discharging firearms there was a real risk he could have had one. The cop made a split second decision on the spur of the moment. Better a piece of scum like Kaba died than the police or members of the public, if it was inevitable someone was going to

Agree.

I believe in some contexts (e.g. some of the discussions around prevention of terrorism) you’ll see the expression “Vehicle as a Weapon” (VAW).

😴 if you bothered to scroll down, you would have seen that I stated that prison is indeed for punishment as someone rightly corrected me. Not everything needs to be an argument on here. Sometimes people get things wrong and will happily be corrected. Some people like you, just want to have an argument. Goodbye

"The issue is that the police shot and killed an unarmed person..."

He wasn't unarmed. He was armed with a three ton Audi that he was driving directly at police officers.

Exactly right. The female versions of him.

It's quite perverse that nobody seems to be asking how the gang violence of Kaba and associates gets tackled, and instead the attention is focusing on the police response

Probably because it's so much easier to blame "everyone else" and that tackling gang violence is largely an issue for the community themselves - who, as several black posters have rightly reminded us, are far more affected than most

Cop is a hero. 100% I watched the video of the shooting this morning and I cannot imagine how hard it would be to do that job.

They are incredibly brave men (and women) dealing with the dregs of society who bring nothing but fear and violence.

I don’t need to. What you said was wrong. Maybe do some research before posting incorrect blanket statements.

I imagine there’s a group of police firearms instructors crowding round a computer screen at this very moment, frantically scribbling in their notebooks. “Quick, guys! There’s a Mumsnet thread on here with some bloody excellent suggestions - use a taser… shoot the offender in the arm… [and my personal favourite] shoot the tyres!” No doubt the Met will be updating their whole approach to firearms tactics thanks to the suggestions on here.

If a brain surgeon operates on a high risk patient and the patient dies, I hope there will be a thread for similarly bonkers suggestions for how such deaths could be avoided in the future. That scenario seems ridiculous, doesn’t it?

Just read this, drives me wild.

The BBC, with their naice reported who brave it to Croydon, put up this highly inflammatory headline and then go on to report views many of which are quite nuanced.

And manage not to interview the black mothers that a PP referenced who clear up after these gangs slash shoot and recruit their victims.

The community does have mistrust in the police.

’the community’ are also the first line victims of the criminals the police are up against.

This sort of sensationalist crap is so unhelpful.

Of course I may need to call the police but I would be very concerned about their behaviour, I'd record any conversations and video any visits to my house. I speak as someone who was a Criminal Defence solicitor for over 20 years and it is far from the case there are only a few bad apples. The last practice that I worked with had a small unit that dealt in bringing civil proceedings against the police where there was misfeasance in their duties, it was very busy indeed.

@Astrabees Yes. There are bad apples. No one is disputing that. But there are countless others who work hard and do their best to get things right and you never hear about them as good news is rarely reported in the press. So - if my child went missing, I was attacked or someone burgled my house, would I call the police? Yes. What about you?

Community it traumatised, we shouldn't focus on Mr Kabas criminality apparently, they could have shot the tyres out.

Wonder if they are on here?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3dvdmzxz82o

Are they traumatised about the night club shooting he did too?

I wish the BBC or Guardian had found a voice like yours or the poster you quoted when they reported about the feelings of the community.

After all the harm and terror Kaba and his gang bring to their community, seeing his family being paraded as some sort of community voice (and, unsurprisingly, steering the discussion away from gang violence) must feel incredibly disempowering.

That would be the family who nurtured a violent criminal, a man who beat up a pregnant woman, who extorted money from immigrant women, who shot a firearm in a packed nightclub? My sympathy for them is also tempered by the knowledge that they may have profited from his gang connections and status. My sympathy is also limited by their attempt to manipulate the media narrative and suppress the reality of the who CK was.

Agreed. His cousin saying that people aren't safe if the police behave like that. Errr try taking the place out of your own eye, as the saying goes.

@Tryonemoretime Who would I call if my daughter went missing? Well, Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman's mother tried calling the police. They police did nothing so the family had to go out and find their bodies themselves, only for officers to take disgusting photographs when they did arrive. I'd hesitate to call the police for an adult as it seems to result in lurid reporting in the tabloids pretty quickly (I am thinking of the poor woman who fell in the river and drowned) They also don't seem to be any good at actually finding people.

With all due respect, do you know anything about this case? Even the most cursory of glances through a newspaper would show that you are peddling mistruths. I finding it astounding that you can have so many opinions and so little regard for facts. Or is that the point? As a social justice warrior, distortion is a valuable tool.

Maybe read my additional posts?

People often get very confused about the conditions surrounding legal trials applying to everyday life. There are restrictions on reporting an individual's previous convictions if that individual is being prosecuted for a crime, purely in order to ensure a fair trial. However, in all other areas of life past behaviour is known to be an excellent indicator of future behaviour.

Anyway, that is all irrelevant because the police were dealing the immediate situation of a massive SUV that had been involved in an attempted shooting murder being deliberately driven at them. They knew that much.

"bUt hE LovED hiS mUm, hE wAs gOiNG to bE anarCHitekt."

Cop is a hero, criminal died due to his own choices in a lawful stop, end of.

The vehicle was stopped based on intelligence ( accurate as it turns out) it had been involved in recent shootings.

Mr Kaba would have been well aware that his arrest would likely lead to an extremely long stretch, attempt murder with a firearm in a crowded club he is looking at 30 years.

Possibly as a result of this he decided to fight his way out.

I am sorry for his family but he made these choices.

Well he wasn’t rehabilitated, was he? He was allegedly involved again in serious crime.

I don’t think it’s a good thing he was shot dead but nor do I think it was murder. He didn’t “deserve” it per se but he brought it on himself due to his lifestyle and his behaviours on the day.

No loss to society and his family should STFU and grieve quietly,’instead of making this about something it’s not.

Not only did she raise a violent criminal, but she refuses to place any accountability on him, it’s everyone else’s fault her son died.

Wonder how he ended up the way he did..

Do you not acknowledge the extra dangers police officers face in cases like these? A gang member has been killed. The police officer was innocent meaning he legally did not do anything wrong. Now he has a bounty on his head…. Do you not believe he should be protected? He would not be in this position if he were a regular member of the public.