Law change may end Kaba officer misconduct case

Law change may end Kaba officer misconduct caseImage source, Kaba familyImage caption, Chris Kaba was shot in Streatham, south London, in September 2022Published1 hour agoThe police marksman who shot Chris Kaba may no longer face misconduct proceedings after the government changed the rules on how officers' use of force is judged.Sgt Martyn Blake shot 24-year-old Kaba in Streatham, south London, in 2022 after he tried to ram his way past police cars. Blake was cleared of murder following a trial in 2024 but was subject to a separate disciplinary hearing, which the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) paused while it waited for the changes to be published.The legal test for misconduct in officers' use-of-force cases has been raised to the same used in criminal law, meaning conduct that would not amount to a crime should not amount to misconduct either.After Blake's acquittal, then home secretary Yvette Cooper said she would raise the legal test used to decide whether to charge officers over use of force.On Wednesday, the watchdog said it now believes the case should not go ahead. It will consult the Kaba family, who argue there are exceptional circumstances why it should still proceed.Dozens of other non-fatal use-of-force cases could also be affected if forces take the same approach.IOPC director of strategy and policy Andrew Johnson said: "We carefully considered the law change and its stated intent to address the perceived unfairness and lack of proportionality of the civil law test."We believe this position provides consistency across impacted cases and is fair to officers who are facing potential dismissal for misconduct, which if it occurred now, would not amount to misconduct under the new law."We expect the number of relevant cases that are affected by this law change to be relatively small."Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Matt Jukes, referring to Blake by his cypher NX121, said: "We have consistently sa...