A police watchdog complained to Ofcom about an episode of Panorama about Chris Kaba’s shooting.
The Independent Police Driving Office (IOPC) went to the broadcasting dog after its request for public apologies from the BBC is not satisfied, after the program is initially disseminated without including the IOPC Declaration in response to Complaints made by his own former regional director SAL Naseem.
A BBC spokesperson said that the company’s own executive complaint (ECU) decision had judged the complaint to be “resolved” after being accepted as surveillance so as not to include the point of view of the IOPC; The Iplayer version and the online article were quickly modified.
Kaba was shot dead after trying to leave a police vehicle stop in southern London in September 2022.
The SGT Martyn Blake, an officer of the specialized firearm unit MO19, was found not guilty of murder in October of last year, which caused demonstrations of the Kaba family.
Speaking after the verdict at the former Bailey, Mr. Kaba’s family said that it was “painful proof that our lives are not appreciated by the system”.
Naseem told BBC Panorama that he had not been convinced that Mr. Kaba had presented a sufficient danger to justify being shot.
He suggested that the investigation into the murder on Mr. Blake was launched in the middle of the pressure on potential disorders, which is refused by the IOPC.
The IOPC complained that the program did not clearly show that Mr. Naseem no longer works for the guard dog and that he was not allowed to respond to the affirmations on the reasons why the investigation was launched.
In the program, Naseem said that when the IOPC launched his investigation into the homicides four days after the shooting, “we were sent to us … that if we did not do it at that time, it is likely that there would have been a level of disorder.”
The IOPC declaration denying this was added to the Iplayer version of the Panorama episode and online news.
The press release said: “The decisions to investigate Sergeant Blake, then refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), carefully followed a significant amount of evidence collected during our independent investigation and applying the relevant legal tests that govern our work.”
According to the judgment of the BBC complaint, the panorama should have provided the CIOPC specific information on the affirmations to be made on this subject, and therefore found an element of injustice at the IOPC.
However, he noted that the manufacturers of the program had taken subsequent measures to include the right of organization to respond in the Iplayer version and the related online article, which was considered “sufficient to resolve this aspect of the complaint”.
But the IOPC said Thursday that it complained to OFCOM because it was “extremely dissatisfied that, despite the admission of these two violations of its own directives, the BBC firmly refused to apologize publicly despite the IOPC program to show the serious reputation damage caused to the organization following the program.
“In particular, the suggestion within this program, according to which the IOPC was in a hurry to start an investigation into homicides, has been wrong and led to public criticism of a certain number of media and individual organizations, including the concerns raised by the London Assembly and local advisers concerning the independence and motivations of the CPI.
“If we were aware that it would be suggested, we would have strongly refuted it.”
Naseem said in the panorama that he had fully accepted the jury’s verdict, but maintained the CIOP’s decision to send the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
