James Lloyd successfully defends police inspector in gross misconduct proceedings

Inspector Z faced gross misconduct proceedings following an IOPC investigation into Kent Police’s response to an incident which culminated in an armed hostage siege and two deaths.

Inspector Z acted in the Force Control Room as the Force Incident Manager, becoming the Initial Tactical Firearms Commander upon their declaration of a Spontaneous Firearms Incident.

The IOPC investigation into the response resulted in five allegations being levelled against the Inspector which were said to amount to significant breaches of the APP on Armed Policing and therefore gross misconduct, including:

1) A failure to declare a Spontaneous Firearms Incident in good time, delaying the attendance of Authorised Firearms Officers;

2) A failure to devise a rationalised tactical plan;

3) A failure to brief, or properly brief the Strategic Firearms Commander or Authorised Firearms Officers;

4) Actively impeding negotiators from fulfilling their role including a direction that negotiators “do nothing”; and

5) A failure to maintain a sufficient audit trail of command decision and risk assessments.

The IOPC relied heavily upon the commissioned expert evidence of a Chief Inspector from another service. During the course of a five-day gross misconduct hearing at Kent Police HQ, this evidence was challenged by the defence, highlighting the “unfathomable” failure on the part of the IOPC to provide the expert with key pieces of relevant evidence and disclosure.

At the conclusion of the hearing on 6 December 2024, the panel dismissed all of the allegations faced by the Inspector.

James Lloyd was instructed by Mark Riley of MJR Solicitors and the Kent Police Federation.

Coverage
Kent Online