The shooting of Chris Kaba, and the subsequent trial and acquittal of Sergeant Martyn Blake, the police officer charged with his murder, highlighted issues over how firearms officers carry out their duties, how they are investigated, and community-police relations.  The programme sought to investigate these matters of public concern, making clear the circumstances surrounding Mr Kaba’s death and examining the consequences. 

It was fair and appropriate that we included the views of Mr Kaba’s family.  We also interviewed a former Assistant Metropolitan Police Officer, former firearms officers who gave their perspective on the difficult circumstances Sergeant Blake would have been working under on the night Mr Kaba was killed, and the former IOPC official who led the team investigating the case. 

In the aftermath of Mr Kaba’s death, concerns had been raised that racism may have been a factor in his shooting. The programme reported that a little over six months after Chris Kaba was shot, the Louise Casey report, accusing the Met of institutional racism, was published. It provided important background context as to why some black Londoners have a sense of mistrust towards their police force. The programme made clear that the Casey report did not deal with the Kaba case specifically, and that the former IOPC official and his team had found no evidence that racism was a factor in the shooting. This was underlined in the programme’s commentary which also explicitly stated that the prosecution had not sought to argue that racism played any part.

We believe the programme offered duly impartial and detailed analysis of the implications of this case, fully reflecting the context involved, including from the outset that Sgt Martyn Blake had been acquitted of murder.