 |
| South Wales Police Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan Must Resign. |
Dramatic developments and new updates in the Mohamud Hassan case.
Mohamud died on Saturday 9th January 2021 after being violently arrested by Cardiff Bay Police officers at his home in Cardiff, Wales. He was detained overnight and released the next morning without charge.
One police officer has already been served a notice of investigation by the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) for failing to inform the Custody Officer at Cardiff Bay police station that Mohamud had complained of feeling like he was about to have a fit whilst he was being transported in the back of a police van to the police station.
Initially, the investigation into this officer was classed as a possible low level misconduct attracting nothing more than a warning letter if proven.
The Hassan family immediately demanded this charge be elevated to Gross Misconduct, which could result in the officer's dismissal. The family also called for the officers suspension. The IOPC rejected these demands.
Now, the IOPC has revealed that this same Police officer failed not only to report Mohamud's complaint of feeling seriously unwell to the custody sergeant at Cardiff Bay police station, he also saw him collapse, literally slumping over in the back of the police van, and still did not report this to his senior officer.
In failing to report and get urgent medical attention, the officer missed a real opportunity to have potentially prevented Mohamud's untimely death.
That the IOPC has revisited the original charge against this officer, in the light of this damning revelation makes no sense.
It's as though the IOPC is watching this officer's bodycam video in instalments. Why would the IOPC partially investigate the 'back of the van' incident, instead of simply conducting a proper investigation watching the whole footage before fully determining the disciplinary charge's status to be levelled at the officer?
Clearly the charge against this officer must now be elevated to Gross Misconduct, and he must be suspended immediately.
Interestingly, the Cardiff Bay Police station's custody sergeant on duty at the time of Mohamud arrival at the police station is now also being investigated. He has been served a notice of potential Gross Misconduct charges.
The IOPC statement reads that the IOPC served,
"a notice at gross misconduct level on a police officer that they may have breached police professional standards of duties and responsibilities, and honesty and integrity. We are examining the adequacy of welfare checks carried out and whether these were in line with required standards, and entries the officer made on the custody record;"
This charge could relate to false entries or omissions in the custody record and validates why the family's legal rep Hilary Brown has been asking for the police bodycam videos and police custody records from day one. The Hassan family don't trust the IOPC to do a proper investigation, and the haphazard nature of their investigation thus far illustrates why.
Did the officers in the van and the custody sergeant conspire together to hide something and was that the fact that Mohamud had suffered disproportionate and unnecessary violence during his arrest and transit to the police station?
The IOPC continues,
"a notice at misconduct level on a police officer concerning their use of force while escorting Mr Hassan shortly after he arrived at the custody suite; we are examining whether the use of force was necessary, proportionate and reasonable in the circumstances;"
The charge here suggests officers assaulted Mohamud during being escorted from the police van to the custody suite. So the officer who saw him collapse must have been involved in this along with the officers sat in front of the vehicle. This is horrific.
"a notice at misconduct level on a custody detention officer that they may have breached police professional standards of duties and responsibilities concerning the adequacy of welfare checks carried out, and whether these were in line with required standards."
After being subjected to potentially disproportionate force, reporting feeling unwell, no one checked on his welfare as required by law. They slung him a cell and left him there.
The IOPC adds,
"In terms of the evening of Mr Hassan's arrest for alleged breach of the peace, we have served notices at misconduct level on two police officers concerning their decision-making on the use of force on Mr Hassan when at the property. We are considering whether the use of force was necessary and proportionate in the circumstances."
Conclusion.
All the officers under investigation must now be suspend. The bodycam videos and full custody records must be released, and Jeremy Vaughan must resign.
All this indicates that Mohamud was violently arrested at his home. He then slumped over in transit and was subjected to disproportionate force again when he arrived at the station and was subsequently left in his cell despite being seriously ill, no doubt, due to the manner of his arrest.
All these revelations now suggest that he was subject to disproportionate police violence and that this was an avoidable death.
The IOPC continues to communicate to the family through press release. On this occasion they emailed the family, causing one of them great distress while at work. Imagine being randomly emailed this information.This shows a stunning lack of empathy for the family.
We now know that the South Wales Police and Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan's press statement of the 15th January was designed to mislead. About his referral of Mohamud's case to the IOPC, Vaughan said.
"We immediately referred the circumstances surrounding his death to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, who have decided to independently investigate these circumstances.
We did this not because we thought that police officers had done anything wrong, but because it was the right thing to do, to give an independent view on the decisions that we made and the actions that we took."
Such is the seriousness of these failures and omissions, we now believe that this has to be a resignation issue. The Hassan family are seeking public support for this demand.
It cannot be right that Vaughan, having defended his officers and determining that none of his officers had "done anything wrong", then suffers no sanction when we now know that five of his officers face serious investigation.
Quite clearly, his position is now untenable. Trust and confidence are essential to good community relations. Chief Constable's words are important, particularly in response to a suspicious death in police custody. His instinctive defence of his officers implied that Hassan's family accusations of police brutality were unfounded.
That he made this statement and its implied assertion that the family were wrong, in the absence of any objective evidence is deeply disingenuous.
 |
| South Wales Police Crime Commissioner Alun Michael |
The Police Crime Commissioner of South Wales Alun Micael must intervene in order to restore confidence of Black, Asian communities and allied communities of South Wales.
Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughans integrity is now compromised. His word has no credibility. He must resign.
NB: I will be hosting the Free Siyanda Mngaza campaign zoom this Saturday 20th March 2021 starting at 4pm Book your place here.
