The British Metropolitan Police is experiencing a state of rebellion, after dozens of its armed officers refused to go out on an armed patrol, after a colleague was charged with premeditated murder.
Rising rebellion
The British newspaper The Guardian reported on Sunday that more than 70 police officers in London say they need time to think about whether or not to continue carrying weapons, given that their colleague is facing a charge of premeditated murder.
Others refused to go out on regular armed patrols and preferred to remain in their positions, and a third team stated that they would only move in case of emergency.
This comes after the British judiciary charged an officer with a code name (NX121) with premeditated murder, in connection with the shooting death of a black young man in September last year.
Chris Cappa (24 years old) was killed in southeast London, as a result of shooting into the windshield of his car, while he was being chased by British police.
Although the officer was charged with murder, he was granted conditional bail and is expected to stand trial next year.
Cause the officers were concerned
The concern of rebellious officers is that they may face the fate of their colleague, and they also worry about how others will evaluate the decisions they make in split seconds, as they do not have the luxury of time that others have to accuse them years after these events occurred.
They say that their colleague acted according to established procedures.
Before the officer was charged last week, only five British police officers, believed to be close colleagues of the accused officer, returned the “blue tickets” to their officials, which is a term that means a license to carry a firearm.
Bullets and terror inside a police station in London
Leadership intervenes
Senior British police leaders, including London Police Chief Mark Rowley, met with the rebel officers to discuss the repercussions of the decision to convict their colleague of murder.
A statement issued by the London Police said: “A number of officers have taken the decision to abandon tasks that require carrying weapons, while others are considering doing the same thing, and the number rejecting these tasks has increased during the last 48 hours.”
London Police alerted security forces in neighboring areas about what was happening, and said it was requesting assistance according to the mutual aid system if a problem arose.
The Guardian reported that the armed police in London, which secure airports, royal headquarters, diplomatic missions, and Parliament, will not be affected by what is happening.
#London #police #rebel #Dozens #officers #refuse #carry #weapons
2023-09-24 12:56:38
