Scotland Yard chiefs were hopeful on Monday that the rebellion by their own firearm officers was subsiding, with more returning to carrying weapons assuaged by promises that a review would examine greater protections.
The crisis was triggered when officers refused to carry out armed patrols after the announcement last Wednesday by prosecutors that a firearms officer would face a murder charge for shooting dead an unarmed suspect, Chris Kaba, last September in south London.
Privately senior sources insisted the home secretary, Suella Braverman, had convinced police leaders she was serious about introducing changes if recommended by the review, with firearms officers believing they risk being persecuted for carrying out their duties and using force.
Sources with knowledge of the firearms command said officers’ concerns had eased enough to allow some to return to full duty, after the Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, used an open letter to say that officers needed greater protections, and that the police watchdog and prosecutors need to consider reforming the way they pursue officers who use force.
Key tests will come on Monday evening and on Tuesday as trained armed officers report for their shifts.
The source said people remembered a previous crisis saw the government make promises they were judged to have failed to keep. “The home secretary’s review and Sir Mark’s letter did the trick and reassured people. But people remember David Cameron did this and nothing happened,” they said.
One of the changes reportedly being considered by the Home Office would see the imposition of time limits for investigations into fatal shootings.
A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service said, despite the tumult within police ranks, they stood by their decision to charge the officer – known as NX121 – with murder. “We stand by our statement,” a CPS spokesperson said, referring to the announcement of the criminal charge, which said it followed a careful consideration of all the evidence.
The Met said some officers had returned to work, with enough specialist counter-terrorism firearms officers now prepared to pick up their weapons to allow Met chiefs to stand down an arrangement that could have seen the military help in limited circumstances.
The Met has also been loaned armed officers from other forces under mutual aid.
Rowley’s letter calling for greater protection saw him consult a senior king’s counsel on Sunday before issuing it, with earlier attempts by him and other senior officers to assuage officers being rebuffed.
He is understood to have given a deadline for those saying they need a period of reflection to decide if they wished to continue to carry a gun. They must decide if they permanently want to return to regular duties, seen within policing as less prestigious.
Rowley is trying to restore public trust in the Met, and some within policing fear the row has caused damage to efforts to rebuild public trust.
He came into office a year ago vowing reform, an effort that had to be intensified after Louise Casey’s damning report lambasted the Met and found biases and troubling behaviours in its firearms command.
Andy George, president of the National Black Police Association and himself a trained firearms officer in Northern Ireland, said: “The ramifications of the decision by armed officers to withdraw their authority to carry firearms and deploy across London leaves the public less safe.
“The stance taken by the commissioner has further eroded confidence in policing only six months after the Casey report was released.
“The commissioner has chosen the workforce over the community once again and he must set his priorities more clearly. The loss of any life deserves the most in-depth, robust and extensive investigation and a jury of our peers should decide on the facts presented.
“It was wrong to do anything that could be perceived as an attempt to reduce or impact the scrutiny we face, particularly at the expense of public safety. The Met has once again impacted national policing in a negative way.”
A senior source with knowledge of a large force firearms command outside London said: “It would never occur to my lot to try this.”
On Monday Rishi Sunak joined efforts to reassure firearms officers. The prime minister said: “Our firearms officers do an incredibly difficult job. They are making life-or-death decisions in a split second to keep us safe and they deserve our gratitude for their bravery.
“Now it is important when they are using these legal powers that they do so with clarity and they have certainty about what they are doing, especially given the lethality they are using.”
