Lee Jasper is a former Deputy Mayor of London with responsibility for Policing (2000-2008)
This article should be read in conjunction with South Wales Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan's and the Independent Office of Police Conduct press statements linked below.
Sunday, the 17th January 2021 was the day of the funeral for 24-year-old Mohamud Hassan of Cardiff, who died on Saturday, 9th January 2021 after his Cardiff Bay police station release. I have been supporting the family by highlighting his case, and today again I offer my sincere condolences.
One can only imagine the pain and grief they will endure today and for the foreseeable future. Across the country, black and other communities have expressed their sadness, anger and concern about the circumstances of the arrest and ultimate death of Mr Hassan. A young 24-year-old had his life in front, hope expectant for the future and now at such a tender age body will be committed to the ground.
This is an all too common story for a black community, whose history is scarred with the trauma of such sudden and unexplained loss. Time and time again, we see the tragic repetition of black death trauma involving the Police. As we say goodbye to our dear brother, we must commit to demanding wholesale reconstruction of the process of independent police complaint and a coroner's inquiry processes that have proven to be incapable of delivering justice for our communities.
In response to substantial public concern, the Chief Constable of South Wales Police, Jeremy Vaughan has been forced to issue a public statement.
In his statement, he writes that Mohamud Hassan's death was a
"...tragedy and we will continue to offer our deepest condolences to his family. There is nothing we can say to ease their pain, and we will support them anyway we can."
There is no more pleasing sound than gently closing stable doors. Such statements are all very well when seeking to minimise collateral damage of widespread public concern, but this one is particularly problematic.
His sympathy and concern statement is exposed and undermined by the fact that neither he nor anyone else from South Wales Police made any effort to contact family in the immediate aftermath of Mohamud's death.
The Chief Constable then speaks about referring the case to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
He says,
"...we did not do this 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."
That is a quite remarkable and astonishing statement to make. Let me explain why.
It would appear that as far as South Wales Police are concerned, this is an open and shut case. Jeremy's statement suggests that he had concluded that there was no case to answer, literally within hours of Mohamud's death. His comment quite clearly states that he referred the case to the IOPC, believing that his officers had done no wrong.
According to the initial IOPC press statement, South Wales Police advised them about Mr Hassan's the day after his death on Sunday 10th January 2021
I have written on this previously. In an earlier article on this blog, I pointed out that the IOPC press release dated Tuesday, 12th January 2021, stated that "preliminary indications" concluded that there is no evidence of any serious 'physical trauma injury' that can explain a cause of death.
Unless I have misunderstood, I find this to be a quite remarkable statement.
The Chief Constable it appears concluded within hours of Mohamud's death that his officers had done nothing wrong and the IOPC some 48 hours later, issues a statement saying that there was "no physical trauma" suffered by Mohamud that could explain the cause of death.
This is a quite remarkable statement. So not only had the Chief Constable concluded within hours of Mahamud's death that his officers had done nothing wrong, but the IOPC had also reported some 48 hours later, that there was "no physical trauma" suffered by Mahamud that could explain the cause of death. This in spite of the fact that they had sight of the interim post-mortem examination report that confirmed Mohamad’s body was battered and bruised.
This is selective reporting on their part as the report confirmed that Mohamud had, as his family has consistently stated, suffered some physical trauma including a split lip and numerous bruises consistent with being slammed against 'hard surfaces'. So why didn’t the IOPC statement report all the facts?
It seems to me that the prior assumption of the Chief Constable was that there was no case to answer. His view is then reinforced in the IOPC selective press statement issued on the 12th January 2021.
The IOPC joins the Chief Constable in a rush to judgement yet we understand that the IOPC has not yet secured all the necessary witness statements central to this case.
You can see my point. Mr Hassan body had visible injuries, and despite that somehow the Chief Constable Jerry Vaughan and the IOPC issue press statements giving the impression that the South Wales Police have done no wrong, without acknowledging the fact that Mohamud did have injuries.
He then goes on to say that "I determined that we should pursue the evidence wherever it takes us." It seems to me you've already concluded where the evidence takes you.
The Chief Constable then makes a valid point about the prevalence of racial discrimination and disadvantage in all parts of society. He goes onto to say that it's essential that concerned voices should be heard. He then issues an implicit threat to enforce Covid19 emergency policing powers on those wishing to make their voices heard.
The Chief Constable then goes on to say that he needs his officers working hard to respond to incidents of "domestic violence and abuse, to respond to sexual violence, knife crime and all other forms of violence and hatred." It would seem to me that the simple insertion of knife crime is a either a subliminal or a consciously non-too subtle attempt to use that issue as a dog whistle reference, to conjure up racial stereotypes.
Further, he appears to be suggesting that demonstrating against perceived injustice comes at the cost of failing to protect other vulnerable victims. It's a classic divide and rule tactic and attempts to gaslight the black community.
There are still many questions to answer in this case.
At this stage, key among them is how do South Wales Police account for Mohamud's injuries?
Another is why the IOPC felt it necessary to issue a press release stating that "preliminary indications" show that Mohamud had not suffered any physical trauma that could have potentially resulted in his death.
The fact that South Wales Police and the IPOC refuses to release the police officer body cam and CCTV footage of Mohamud's arrest and his eventual release without charge to his family. Why?
This is, of course, just legal flimflam.
If the Chief Constable is essentially saying, he has seen the videos and sees nothing of concern, why does he not simply hand over the videos to the family?
Doing so constitutes no risk or danger either to the investigation or the officers concerned. Of course, In America, such videos are routinely released in the immediate aftermath of critical incidents that cause widespread public anger and anxiety without any apparent problems for the legal process or officers.
Ironically, the reason why police body cams were introduced in the UK was to provide public reassurance concerning critical policing incidents. It makes no sense in the context of a case causing tremendous anger and anxiety that the Police should withhold video footage from the family.
Indeed, in my view, the family have an absolute right to both see and get a copy of what is essentially the last precious moments of Mr Hassan's life.
The Police often tell us concerning heavy-handed and repeated stop and searches, that if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear.
The South Wales Police should apply that very same prescription to themselves. There can be no doubt that both local and national public concern is rising. That concern could be in part effectively addressed by the immediate release of the police video cam footage.
On this occasion, it looks like they have conspired to construct a version of events, designed to mislead the public. If that is the case, and it appears to be so, then that is a very grave mistake indeed.
Sign the petition to release the police bodycam and CCTV videos to the Hassan family here.
