Police aware shooting of Mark Duggan risked triggering wider disorder

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/12/police-mark-duggan-risk-disorder

Version 0 of 1.

Police knew that the shooting of Mark Duggan risked triggering wider disorder, despite Scotland Yard's later claim that the Tottenham riots that spread across England could not have been predicted, the Observer can reveal.

Extra security measures were ordered by senior officers on the night of Duggan's death in August 2011, including the instruction that fire engines and ambulances were not to attend calls from potential flashpoints without police authorisation. Local police stations were told to increase the security of their back gates and riot police were ordered not to drive around due to the risk of being embroiled in further incidents.

The steps taken in the immediate aftermath of the death of the father-of-six at the hands of an armed officer have not previously been made public, despite an independent inquiry and a police report into the handling of the riots. Until now the police have insisted that they had no intelligence that could have allowed them to predict the initial disorder in Tottenham, which led to the deaths of five people, an estimated £500m of damage and more than 4,000 arrests across the country.

A Scotland Yard report on the riots published in March 2012, entitled 4 Days in August, said: "The crucial question is whether the Metropolitan Police Service could have predicted the serious disorder in Tottenham. The response to that question is that based on the intelligence reports the Met received, the riot could not have been predicted."

However, the Observer has learned that police felt the need to circulate a series of instructions on the day of Duggan's death and over the following 24 hours, due to a perceived risk of serious trouble. Officers in Scotland Yard's Territorial Support Group, responsible for public order incidents, were told to keep a low profile. Officers were told not to execute arrest warrants in Haringey and there was particular concern about deploying officers to Broadwater Farm Estate, the scene of the infamous riots in 1985.

The London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service were to refer all calls regarding incidents on the estate to Tottenham's chief superintendent. Staff working for the firm Serco, monitoring offenders with electronic tags, were also told not to go on to the estate and surrounding areas.

The disclosures will raise questions about police transparency and why the police did not do more to avoid widespread fury in the immediate aftermath of Duggan's death escalating into mass public disorder.

Particular concerns have been raised about the insensitive treatment of Duggan's family, who for several hours after his death were left waiting in a police station without being seen by senior officers. In an interview with the Observer at a vigil outside Tottenham police station, held in protest at an inquest's verdict that the 29-year-old's death was lawful, Duggan's aunt, Carole Duggan, described senior officers' behaviour on the day of the shooting as "disgusting", adding: "They took the stance that what they did was right, they didn't consider my family at all."

A community activist close to the Duggan family, Stafford Scott, said he found the Observer's revelations deeply troubling and described the police's report into the riots as a "whitewash".

He said: "These disclosures raise new questions about whether the police could have prevented the riots. Given the preparations the police had put in place to prevent disorder taking hold why did they leave family and friends waiting outside for three hours without sending out an officer of sufficiently high rank to address their concerns?"

In the aftermath of the riots that swept across the country, senior police officers used the disorder to make the case against cuts to their budgets and staffing levels.

On the last day of the disorder, as parliament was recalled, Lee Skelton, the chairman of Cumbria Police Federation, said he "took no pleasure" in correctly predicting that "outrageous, unsustainable and unrealistic" budget cuts would lead to "significant civil unrest".

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Serco were instructed to come through police to assess whether or not a police escort was required. Throughout the initial stages of the disorder, building security was under constant assessment. This included police buildings on Haringey borough.

"Police worked with all emergency services on a call-by-call basis to decide whether they required a police escort. This was not a blanket policy."

On Thursday an inquest jury decided Duggan was not holding a gun when shot by police, but nevertheless found the police marksman's decision to open fire was lawful and judged that the dead man had been handling a gun shortly before the shooting.

Duggan's family will meet senior officials from the official police watchdog on Tuesday to demand that alleged "inconsistencies" in the evidence provided by officers heard at the inquest are fully reinvestigated.

On Saturday around 300 people gathered outside Tottenham police station, ending a minute's silence with chants of "No justice, no peace".

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.