No wrong doing over Maida Vale stop
At around 1.25pm on Saturday, 4 July, officers from the Territorial Support Group were patrolling in the W9 area in response to an increase in violence involving weapons.
Officers witnessed a vehicle with blacked out windows that was driving suspiciously, including driving on the wrong side of the road. They indicated for it to stop but it failed to do so and made off at speed. The officers caught up with the vehicle when it stopped on Lanhill Road. The driver initially refused to get out of the car.
The occupants, a 25-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman, were informed that they were being detained for the purposes of a search under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
Following a search of the vehicle, the man and the woman, nothing was found. No arrests were made and the occupants were allowed on their way.
Police are aware of a video circulating on social media showing part of the stop.
Each stop is dealt with on its own merits at the discretion of the individual officers involved, taking into account various aspects including behaviour and compliance.
Officers have to make these judgement calls regularly on a daily basis, often in difficult circumstances.
They understand that their actions will be scrutinised as they go about their work and that the public have the right to hold them to account where appropriate.
Officers from the Directorate of Professional Standards have reviewed both footage from social media, and the body-worn video of the officers and are satisfied that there is no concern around the officers’ conduct.
Commander for Central West BCU Helen Harper said: “I understand the concern when incidents like this happen and how they can appear when part of it is filmed without context.
“Due to the concern raised, we conducted a review of the stop. This included social media footage and body worn camera footage of the officers at the scene. We are satisfied that there are no misconduct issues.
“The officers were deployed to a high violence area of London and the manner of the driving raised suspicion, it is only right that they act on it.
“We are open to discussing the incident with the individuals involved if they wish to do so.”
