A sad day in pursuit of a real justice
100 firearms officers have reportedly handed in their guns in protest to the murder charge of the officer that killed Chris Kaba
Chris Kaba was killed in a police chase in South London in September of last year, an officer has finally been charged with murder as the result of a family backed investigation.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has said he agreed the force should be held to the highest standards, according to the BBC.
Yet he has said the force needed more legal protections.
In a move that has opened a discussion of the army being used in certain police jurisdiction, the question of how justice is carried out is ultimately in the balance.
Whatever your misgivings about the Met and armed policing, the police are our recourse to legal justice in this country.
They should be held to account where they have broken laws that they have the power to force us to abide by. Otherwise, what justice is there?
But if things go wrong with the police force, we should be wary about calling in the army.
The army is not a judicial force, it is a military force.
Are we suggesting that Chris Kaba should have faced a trained soldier for being at what ultimately is proving to be the wrong place at the wrong time?
The army has no place in investigating or enforcing domestic crime, unless there is a clear terrorist element.
I am writing sad and tired that in attempting to seek meaningful justice for a tragic death, we are storing up a future that holds less justice and more potentially heavy handed response.
Even the army have courts, we need ours to be policed by people who are trained, accountable and distinct from the army.
No good can come from blurring those lines.
