Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC - formerly IPCC)
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Met Police acted appropriately during Tottenham stop and search

An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation of a complaint by a driver who was stopped and searched in London during an incident that was filmed and shared widely on social media at the time, has found Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officers acted appropriately but should have worn Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the search.

Officers from the MPS Territorial Support Group (TSG) stopped the man as he was driving in Northumberland Park Road, Tottenham N17 on 23 May 2020, under the Road Traffic Act. Officers then searched the man’s car under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

We began our investigation in June after the man complained he had been stopped in an aggressive manner, that the grounds for the search were false, that the force used by the officers was unnecessary, and that they had failed to use PPE when searching him and his car.

Our investigation was completed in February this year and included taking statements from the officers, reviewing social media footage, body worn video of the incident, and MPS policies concerning stop and search and the use of PPE.

Based on the evidence gathered, we did not uphold the first three elements of the man’s complaint. Evidence showed that the man failed to comply with the officers’ verbal demands and refused to show his hands, which led to him being handcuffed in his car. Officers gave a number of reasons for conducting the search, including the manner of driving, the man’s movements inside the vehicle, and a smell of cannabis. In our view, when the search found nothing the officers could have more clearly explained why they felt the man’s behaviour merited a drugs search. Our investigation also found no evidence to support the man’s complaint that the officers acted aggressively towards him.

We confirmed that officers did not wear face masks and only used gloves after they had already handled the man’s property and made physical contact with him. This part of the complaint was upheld, and the force has undertaken to address this with the officers concerned.

IOPC Regional Director Sal Naseem recently said:

“We know that these types of incidents can have a detrimental impact on public confidence in policing, when there is only a partial picture available of what happened. Our independent investigation allowed us to establish the whole picture of what happened and did not find any evidence that this man had been treated differently because of his race, or any concerns around the conduct of the officers, although we did find they should have used PPE and could have more clearly explained the reasons for the stop and search.”

 

Channel website: https://policeconduct.gov.uk/

Original article link: https://policeconduct.gov.uk/news/met-police-acted-appropriately-during-tottenham-stop-and-search

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