Family of Jean Charles de Menezes slam Cressida Dick's appointment as Met Police commissioner
The new commissioner was involved in the fatal shooting of the innocent Brazilian in 2005
Cressida Dick outside New Scotland Yard after her historic appointment
The family of Jean Charles de Menezes have slammed Cressida Dick’s appointment as the Met’s new commissioner – claiming it’s proof that “police officers can act with impunity”.
Ms Dick was in charge of the operation which resulted in the fatal shooting of the 27-year-old Brazilian national at Stockwell Tube station in 2005. He had been wrongly identified as a potential suicide bomber.
The 56-year-old officer was later cleared of any blame in his death by a jury.
Mr. de Menezes family have released a statement saying they have “serious concerns” over the appointment of Ms Dick, who becomes the Met’s first female commissioner in its 188-year history.
Jean Charles de Menezes was wrongly identified as a potential suicide bomber (Metropolitan Police)
They said: "We had to face a tragedy that no family should ever have to experience; the tragic death of a loved one at the hands of those we entrusted to serve us and protect us.
"At the helm of the police on that fateful day when Jean was killed was Cressida Dick. The message of today's appointment is that police officers can act with impunity.
New commissioner Cressida Dick makes statement outside Scotland Yard
"The commissioner of the Metropolitan police is the most senior police officer in the country, a post that is expected to uphold the highest standards of professionalism, to command public confidence and be responsible for ensuring that the police act lawfully and are held to account."
Mr de Menezes' parents hold up photos of their son in their village in Brazil two days after his death (Reuters)
It came as Ms Dick spoke to press for the first time since her appointment, flanked by London mayor Sadiq Khan and Home Secretary Amber Rudd outside New Scotland Yard.
She said she felt “extraordinarily privileged” and “very humbled” to lead the UK’s biggest police force.
First woman boss of Met: Cressida Dick lands top role at Scotland Yard
“It’s beyond my wildest dreams,” she added. “I love policing and I love the Met.”
The de Menezes family initially wrote to Mr Khan last week saying Ms Dick would not “command public confidence” if she got the job.
During a hunt for four suspects of a failed suicide bombing on the London Underground in 2005, armed officers mistook Mr de Menezes for one of the terrorists and shot him while he sat in a Tube carriage.
Who is Cressida Dick? A look at the new Met Commissioner
Officers believed he was would-be suicide bomber Hussain Osman who lived in the same block of flats as the Brazilian. When the force was later found guilty of breaching health and safety laws, the jury cleared Ms Dick of blame.
Ms Dick, who is highly respected among colleagues, left the Met in 2014 to take up a senior and sensitive role at the Foreign Office after she was moved from her counter terrorism post by Sir Bernard.
She beat competition from three shortlisted rivals, the current Met counter terror chief Mark Rowley, Essex chief constable Stephen Kavanagh and Sara Thornton, head of the National Police Chiefs' Council
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime...-a3473656.html
Maybe she didn't actually murder De Menezes, but she was the person in charge who made the call. The men who were ordered to kill him had no way of knowing their orders were based in incomplete/incorrect information. Dick was the person in charge who failed to ensure she had all the information she required before ordering the death of De Menezes. The fact his death was intentional means manslaughter would not be an appropriate charge which only leaves murder. She was the one who ordered it and was the only person who could have prevented it.
Read the bit of the article I made bold. How does this sit in with the facts?
The death of Tomlinson and the absence of charges made me feel it is reasonable to band the Metropolitan Police as a gang that have murdered and used their position to evade prosecution *. The fact they have her in charge makes a mockery of the whole idea of having a police force.
*Before anycome comes out with the usual "they aren't all bad" line, get 1000 of your friends to surround a police officer and prevent them from freely leaving an area, then get one of them to kill the officer. Under the laws as they stood at the time (joint enterprise), any of the hypothetical 1000 that were caught would find themselves jointly liable for the death. If these 1000 were part of a larger group of 10000, I bet there would be public outcry at the whole group for standing by their members. Funny how that all goes out of the window with the force that is meant to uphold law and order.
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