Lessons have not been learned. I saw what sparked the Tottenham riots, and the same could happen again
I can still recall the phone call on 4 August 2011, informing me that police officers had been involved in the shooting of an “armed gangster” who had allegedly shot at them. I was getting the call, from the chair of a policing advisory group, as this incident had taken place in Tottenham, north London, where for decades I have been an active campaigner for police accountability.
My initial reaction was surprise: it was extremely rare to hear that someone had fired at a police officer, let alone that they had been stupid enough to shoot at an armed unit. But my thought processes began to change when she went on to inform me that the gun that had allegedly been fired could not be found. Later, I received a second call telling me that the gun had been found, but that it was some distance away from the “gunman’s” body.