Learning for Met officer over Finsbury Park arrest

A Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer must reflect over their part in the arrest and restraint of a 48-year-old Black man in Finsbury Park, London in July 2020 following an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation.

The incident was voluntarily referred to the IOPC by the MPS after mobile phone footage of part of the incident, which appeared to show an officer kneeling on the man’s neck, was widely shared on social media.

We began our investigation in July 2020 to determine if the use of force and the stop and search were appropriate and proportionate in line with approved police policies and training. We also investigated whether the officers treated the man differently because of his race.

We established that two officers responded to reports that a White man was being beaten up by two Black men on Isledon Road, Islington N7 on 16 July 2020. As the man’s clothing and description matched one of the suspects, an officer attempted to apply handcuffs and search the man for weapons.

One officer was questioned under criminal caution by our investigators, on suspicion of common assault and a file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) who decided to take no further action. The CPS upheld its decision after the man exercised his victim’s right to review.

Our investigation found that one of the officers had a case to answer for misconduct concerning his use of force as it may have been unnecessary and excessive. We decided that it would be appropriate to undertake reflective practice – to reflect and learn from the incident to prevent any issues identified from re-occurring. He also had a case to answer for misconduct concerning authority, respect and courtesy for the way he spoke to the man and members of the public who were standing nearby. We decided that this would also be appropriate to be dealt with by way of reflective practice.

During the investigation we found no evidence to suggest that the officers treated the man differently because of his race as they were responding to an intelligence report that an assault had recently taken place and both the man’s clothing and description matched that of one of the suspects.

We also found no evidence to suggest that the second officer breached police professional standards of behaviour.

IOPC Regional Director Sal Naseem said: “This was a thorough and detailed investigation of an incident that attracted considerable concern at the time because of a video going viral on social media. Stop and search is an intrusive and contentious police power which must always be used reasonably, proportionately and, where possible, should be intelligence-led.

“Following our investigation, we now understand the whole picture and on this occasion we found that officers had initiated the stop and search appropriately, based on the information they had been provided with. However, one of the officers may have used more force than necessary and his communication with the suspect and members of the public nearby may have been inappropriate.

“In these circumstances the officer will now work with their supervisor to reflect, learn and improve from what occurred, to prevent this from happening again.”

Last year the IOPC made 11 statutory recommendations to the MPS to reform its policies and improve the way it exercises stop and search powers.

The recommendations included improving monitoring and supervision, ensuring officers understand how their use of stop and search powers impacts individuals from groups that are disproportionately affected by those powers and better de-escalation tactics.