IPCC: Police reporting on shootings 'lacks credibility'

janes: The current protocols on how firearms officers write up their accounts of fatal incidents must be revised urgently because the system lacks credibility, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Firearms officers involved in fatal shootings "should be treated like any other significant witnesses" in making up their notes, and any debriefing should be video recorded, the IPCC recommended following its investigation into complaints made by the widow of Harry Stanley, who was shot dead by firearms officers.

Currently, officers are given access to legal advice and are allowed to confer with other officers before writing their accounts of an incident. The IPCC report said the officers followed the correct protocols.

Mark Williams, the Met Federation's SO19 specialist firearms unit representative, said: "Nothing needs to change." He added that the system in place "caters fully for these issues". Link