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Jermaine Baker police shooting has echoes of Afghanistan incident Jermaine Baker police shooting has echoes of Afghanistan incident
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If you get most of your news from TV or the broadsheet newspapers you may not have heard of Sgt Alexander Blackman. It is a name better known to tabloid readers whose experience and outlook generates sympathy with those in lower military ranks who carry the can for officer class mistakes. If you get most of your news from TV or the broadsheet newspapers you may not have heard of Sgt Alexander Blackman. It is a name better known to tabloid readers whose experience and outlook generates sympathy with those in lower military ranks who carry the can for officer-class mistakes.
But it’s more complicated than that, especially in a month when, much closer to home, a police officer was arrested – very unusual – following the police shooting of a man suspected of involvement in a plot to spring a prisoner from a court in north London. But it’s more complicated than that, especially in a month when, much closer to home, a firearms officer was arrested – very unusual – following the police shooting of a man suspected of involvement in a plot to spring a prisoner from a court in north London.
Blackman is the Royal Marine who was found guilty of murder by court martial for shooting dead a Taliban prisoner on 15 September 2011. The crime took place in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, back in the news again today as a battle rages for control of strategically important Sangin. Blackman is the Royal Marine who was found guilty of murder by court martial for shooting dead a Taliban prisoner on 15 September 2011. The crime took place in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, back in the news again as a battle rages for control of strategically important Sangin. You can read the basic facts here, the Guardian account of Blackman’s conviction here.
You can read the basic facts here, the Guardian account of Blackman’s conviction here. His friends and family have been trying to get his minimum jail sentence – already reduced to eight from 10 years on appeal – overturned. The campaigning might of the Daily Mail has been thrown behind their efforts.
His friends and family have been trying to get his minimum jail sentence – already reduced to eight from 10 on appeal – overturned. The campaigning might of the Daily Mail has been thrown behind their efforts. Blackman’s judges decided that, in shooting his prisoner dead after the firefight was over, the highly experienced soldier knowingly committed a serious crime (“I have just broken the Geneva convention,” he said immediately afterwards) for which he has been rightly held to account. The fateful evidence was later found on a camera in a colleague’s helmet.
Blackman’s judges decided that, in shooting his prisoner dead after the firefight was over, the highly experienced soldier knowingly committed a serious crime (“I have just broken the Geneva Convention,” he said immediately afterwards) for which he has been rightly held to account. The fateful evidence was later found on a camera in a colleague’s helmet.
You can see how this can easily lead us to last week’s police shooting on the back streets of Wood Green in north London. The link is even stronger. Helmand is famously one of the world’s major opium production regions and drug dealing is said to be behind the blood feuds that exist between north London gangs. This forms the background to the death of Jermaine Baker, wrongly linked in media reports to gangs, his supporters say.You can see how this can easily lead us to last week’s police shooting on the back streets of Wood Green in north London. The link is even stronger. Helmand is famously one of the world’s major opium production regions and drug dealing is said to be behind the blood feuds that exist between north London gangs. This forms the background to the death of Jermaine Baker, wrongly linked in media reports to gangs, his supporters say.
You would think hat by now armed Met police should be wearing cameras when engaged in such stakeouts where things can quickly go wrong. They weren’t on this occasion, but the Met has learned from the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham in 2011. The force’s mishandling of the case helped trigger city-wide riots. You would think that by now armed Met police should be wearing cameras when engaged in such stakeouts where things can quickly go wrong. They weren’t on this occasion but the Met has learned from the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham in 2011. The force’s mishandling of the case helped trigger citywide riots.
This time they’ve done better. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has been involved from the start – I’ve seen its staff on local TV facing angry public meetings – and the officer who fired the shot was suspended and later arrested.This time they’ve done better. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has been involved from the start – I’ve seen its staff on local TV facing angry public meetings – and the officer who fired the shot was suspended and later arrested.
I don’t have any background information not already in the pubic domain. But we could argue that angry north London residents, many of them black, who have experienced rough policing, occasional violence and shootings over the years, are in much the same position as Afghan villagers (this week Iraqi soldiers too) caught in “friendly fire” incidents by US drones or other high tech mistakes. I don’t have any background information not already in the pubic domain. But we could argue that angry north London residents, many of them black, who have experienced rough policing, occasional violence and shootings over the years, are in much the same position as Afghan villagers (this week Iraqi soldiers too) caught in friendly fire incidents by US drones or other high tech mistakes.
Their instinctive sympathy is with the victims, people they know, whereas the Blackman campaign’s sympathy is with a well-liked British professional soldier under immense stress who did a wrong thing to someone who had been trying to kill him a few minutes earlier. It’s what the cops usually say (it doesn’t always turn out to be true) when one of their own kills someone. “He saw a gun, it was instinct to shoot.”Their instinctive sympathy is with the victims, people they know, whereas the Blackman campaign’s sympathy is with a well-liked British professional soldier under immense stress who did a wrong thing to someone who had been trying to kill him a few minutes earlier. It’s what the cops usually say (it doesn’t always turn out to be true) when one of their own kills someone. “He saw a gun, it was instinct to shoot.”
Related: What do police know about Jermaine Baker’s killing that we don’t? | Stafford ScottRelated: What do police know about Jermaine Baker’s killing that we don’t? | Stafford Scott
A friend of mine who is deeply knowledgeable about military matters and is familiar with Helmand province, its dusty hills and dangerous valleys, remains adamant that the military brass were right to prosecute Blackman, something you may feel the Met police would not readily do to an errant copper if it was still in its power to decide. The current leadership of the force is slipping back into an arrogant, unaccountable mindset, according to another contact who knows his subject well. A friend of mine who is deeply knowledgeable about military matters and is familiar with Helmand province, its dusty hills and dangerous valleys, remains adamant that the military brass were right to prosecute Blackman, something you may feel the Met would not readily do to an errant copper if it was still in its power to decide. The current leadership of the force is slipping back into an arrogant, unaccountable mindset, according to another contact who knows his subject well.
Pressed by Tory MPs in the Commons David Cameron has signalled what campaigners take to be private sympathy for the imprisoned soldier, whose wife, Claire, has proved formidable. Pressed by Tory MPs in the Commons David Cameron has signalled what campaigners take to be private sympathy for the imprisoned soldier, whose wife, Claire, has proved formidable. Evidence of the possibility of help from No 10 was reinforced at the weekend when newspapers were briefed on that very different case in north London that Cameron fears that armed police do not get enough support when they have to make split-second decisions. He has ordered a review.
Evidence of the possibility of help from No 10 was reinforced at the weekend when newspapers were briefed on that very different case in North London that Cameron fears that armed police do not get enough support when they have to make split-second decisions. He has ordered a review. This is tricky territory where balance is needed. Britain’s still mostly unarmed police have a pretty defendable record in the fatal shootings league. Could that be because they are unarmed? Millions of Americans deny any such causality, but the statistics speak for themselves. Unfortunately British drug gangs with powerful weapons (“Our Tasers are so much more powerful than yours,” one villain recently told the copper who arrested him), not to mention teenage terrorists with a grudge, make life and choices harder for the authorities. The firepower showdown between baddies and cops is an ugly bidding war we all need to help slow down.
This is tricky territory where balance is needed. Britain’s still mostly unarmed police have a pretty defendable record in the fatal shootings league. Could that be because they are unarmed? Millions of Americans deny any such causality, but the statistics speak for themselves.
Unfortunately British drug gangs with powerful weapons (“Our Tasers are so much more powerful than yours,” one villain recently told the copper who arrested him), not to mention teenage terrorists with a grudge, make life and choices harder for the authorities. The firepower showdown between baddies and cops is an ugly bidding war we all need to help slow down.
So the ex-Met chief turned Lib Dem peer, Brian Paddick, is surely on the right track when he suggests that, if police who shoot suspects are freed from automatic investigation, they should lose the right to remain silent. Cameron’s review hearings should be staged in public too, he says.So the ex-Met chief turned Lib Dem peer, Brian Paddick, is surely on the right track when he suggests that, if police who shoot suspects are freed from automatic investigation, they should lose the right to remain silent. Cameron’s review hearings should be staged in public too, he says.
It’s all part of a quid pro quo to sustain shaky public confidence in both directions. For every 10 voters who instinctively side with the cops (or with Blackman’s campaign) there will be some – how many? Jeremy Corbyn’s election results may provide an answer – who fear the police more than they do the other side. If a member of your family or mine was shot (or even run over by a squad car) we might review our own policy too.It’s all part of a quid pro quo to sustain shaky public confidence in both directions. For every 10 voters who instinctively side with the cops (or with Blackman’s campaign) there will be some – how many? Jeremy Corbyn’s election results may provide an answer – who fear the police more than they do the other side. If a member of your family or mine was shot (or even run over by a squad car) we might review our own policy too.
Related: Afghanistan's women risk their lives to demand equal rights and protection | Sune Engel RasmussenRelated: Afghanistan's women risk their lives to demand equal rights and protection | Sune Engel Rasmussen
These specific cases will run their course and firearms policy may be modified. But there’s a wider issue here, one which separates the bobby on the beat (he never got lunch with the News of the World) from the senior officers, separates the “poor bloody infantry” – Rudyard Kipling’s Tommy Atkins – from headquarters staff safely behind the lines. These specific cases will run their course and firearms policy may be modified. But there’s a wider issue here, one which separates the bobby on the beat (he never got lunch with the News of the World) from the senior officers, separates the “poor bloody infantry” – Rudyard Kipling’s Tommy Atkins – from headquarters staff safely behind the lines. My pal who says Blackman got what he deserved also says the Helmand operation was badly handled way above the sergeant’s head. Labour’s John Reid sent the troops in hoping a shot would not be fired. Strategy was never clear, a still grieving Helmand mother said on air today.
My pal who says Blackman got what he deserved also says the Helmand operation was badly handled way above the sergeant’s head. Labour’s John Reid sent the troops in hoping a shot would not be fired. Strategy was never clear, a still grieving Helmand mother said on air today. David Cameron and his arrogant, inexperienced civilian team at No 10 have been no better. They tightened the mission’s terms of engagement to prevent soldiers straying far from main roads to places where they might get hurt. Along with a shortage of men (half the necessary number were sent?) it made it harder to impose order: soldiers have to patrol in depth against a Taliban enemy. Tory MPs with limited military experience who “know everything” bend the PM’s ear, says my worldly friend.
David Cameron and his arrogant, inexperienced civilian team at No 10 have been no better.
They tightened the mission’s terms of engagement to prevent soldiers straying far from main roads to places where they might get hurt. Along with a shortage of men (half the necessary number were sent?) it made it harder to impose order: soldiers have to patrol in depth against a Taliban enemy.
Tory MPs with limited military experience who “know everything” bend the PM’s ear, says my worldly friend.
Senior officers, both in Whitehall and in the field, also let down the men. That’s part of the Mail’s effort to support Blackman, highlighting those on his side and those keener to cover up their own shortcomings. It’s another reason why there has been no Chilcot inquiry into the lessons of Afghanistan, also why Chilcot has taken so long: it’s not all about Tony Blair, it’s about buck passing by senior civil servants and officers most of us haven’t heard of.Senior officers, both in Whitehall and in the field, also let down the men. That’s part of the Mail’s effort to support Blackman, highlighting those on his side and those keener to cover up their own shortcomings. It’s another reason why there has been no Chilcot inquiry into the lessons of Afghanistan, also why Chilcot has taken so long: it’s not all about Tony Blair, it’s about buck passing by senior civil servants and officers most of us haven’t heard of.
So Blackman has more of my sympathy than my friend offers him. So do the elderly ex-soldiers still being interviewed over Bloody Sunday. They may (or may not) have done wrong, but others did worse and have amnesties. So Blackman has more of my sympathy than my friend offers him. So do the elderly ex-soldiers still being interviewed over Bloody Sunday. They may (or may not) have done wrong, but others did worse and have amnesties. So our soldiers and police officers, people who do our collective dirty work, need both to be better looked after and better held to account. And our politicians need to resist taking the soft or popular options as soon as they hear the sound of gunfire. For some people gunfire is not a metaphor. They’re real bullets in Sangin today.
So our soldiers and police officers, people who do our collective dirty work, need both to be better looked after and better held to account. And our politicians need to resist taking the soft or popular options as soon as they hear the sound of gunfire. For some people gunfire is not a metaphor. They’re real bullets in Sangin today.