Police Chiefs: Court of Appeal judgement is disappointing

The full judgement can be found here. Responding to the outcome the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for armed policing, Chief Constable Simon Chesterman, said:

“Police officers put themselves in harm’s way to protect people on a daily basis and they do so within the boundaries of the law and far reaching police conduct rules. They are amongst the most accountable officers in the world.

“Firearms officers are carefully selected, receive world class training and they very rarely need to use lethal force in the execution of their duty. In fact, they only discharge firearms at 0.03% of armed deployments.

“Independent scrutiny and accountability for the actions of police are hugely important. But equally as important is ensuring that the challenges faced by officers, as they work to keep people safe, are recognised and they are treated fairly by those judging their actions with the benefit of hindsight. The introduction of body worn video has been a major step forward in this respect.

“This is a disappointing judgement and it is important that we now take time to closely reflect on it.”