Investigation into use of force - Metropolitan Police Service, February 2019

On 22 February 2019, two Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officers responded to an emergency call made by a member of the public, who had reported a woman causing a disturbance in Lewisham, south-east London. When they arrived, both officers switched on their body worn video (BWV) cameras to record the incident. The woman appeared to be behaving aggressively towards a member of the public, and one of the officers tried to divert her attention. The woman appeared to become aggressive towards the officer, and the officer used force, resulting in the woman sustaining a serious injury to their face

During the investigation, our investigators obtained an account from the officer, examined the BWV footage from the incident and reviewed all relevant polices and guidance on use of force.

Evidence indicated that the woman had been increasingly aggressive to several people in the area. The BWV footage shows that, immediately before the officer use force, the woman had pushed the officer in the chest twice. The officer stated that their honestly held belief at the time they used force was that there was an immediate threat to themselves and others. The officer’s other interactions with the woman both before and after the use of force appear to be calm, with no indication of further use of force. In our opinion, based on the available evidence, no reasonable tribunal could find the officer used more force than was necessary based on the circumstances as they perceived them to be, nor, therefore, that they had a case to answer for misconduct.

We were of the opinion that the officer’s performance in regard to decision making could have been improved, regarding considering options other than force, such as verbal communications. We therefore recommended that the officer receive management action. We completed our investigation in August 2019.

After reviewing our report, the MPS agreed that management action would be useful for the officer in considering communication, in the form of verbal dominance, as a possible alternative to force.