Armed police need the support of Londoners, a Cabinet minister said after an officer was cleared of the murder of Chris Kaba.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed stressed that he understood concerns in communities in the capital about Mr Kaba’s death.
The MP for Streatham and Croydon North, though, emphasised the importance of armed units on duty in the capital having the backing of Londoners.
“Chris Kaba was shot in my constituency,” he told Sky News.
“First of all my heart does go out to his family and friends.
“There is concern in the community about what has happened.
“But we have to respect the verdict of the jury in this case.”
He then stressed: “What is important following this is that the police know that they will always have our support in those critical, split-second decisions that they have to take but also that we do everything that we can to ensure that there is a relationship built on trust between the public and the police because policing by consent depends on that.”
Speaking on Times Radio earlier, he said: “I recognise that there are concerns in the community about what happened.
“But also the police need our support when they take these split-second decisions.”
While expressing his condolences to Mr Kaba’s family and friends, he told LBC Radio that the “police need to know that we have their backs, that they have our support in those split-second, crucial decisions that they have to take.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was due to make a Commons statement on completing a probe into how firearms police officers who take fatal shots in the line of duty are held to account.
She was set to give more details of the review into the accountability of firearms officers, days after police marksman Martyn Blake, 40, was cleared of the murder of Mr Kaba.
Mr Kaba, who was 24, was unarmed when Mr Blake shot him through the windscreen of an Audi Q8 as he tried to ram his way past police cars on September 5 2022 as officers surrounded his vehicle.
He was reportedly a “core member” of one of London’s most dangerous criminal gangs and was allegedly directly linked to two shootings in the six days before he was shot dead by police, a court has revealed to the public after lifting reporting restrictions.
Police had stopped the car as it was suspected of having been used as a getaway vehicle in a recent firearms incident but did not know it was Mr Kaba inside.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct is believed to be reviewing whether Mr Blake should still face disciplinary proceedings.
Sir Keir Starmer would not be drawn into commenting on the jury decision in the trial, but said his Government would pick up the accountability review launched by the previous Tory administration.
Suella Braverman pledged to review the ways that firearms officers who take fatal shots are held accountable when she was Home Secretary in 2023.
Plans to give swifter decisions to suspended officers and more clarity to victims were among the changes touted by the previous government.
Tory ministers also considered raising the threshold for referring firearms officers for prosecution.
Speaking on the way to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, Sir Keir said: “We are going to pick that up and complete that accountability review because it is important that the public have confidence in the police including of course the armed police.”
Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley is among the policing leaders to have called the current accountability system “broken” and expressed concerns it might lead to a loss of morale among firearms officers.
