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Kebba Jobe |
‘A NEGLECT OF DUTY’
Police criticised after death of suspect during arrest
POLICE in Camden have been warned they must improve the way they deal with drug suspects following the death of a man as he was arrested on a canal towpath.
Investigators said officers were left in a potentially “untenable” position on the day they stopped Kebba Jobe, lacking proper support in a drug hotspot and possibly in need of a health and safety refresher course.
Officers have been told they need to be wary of the possibility of drugs being swallowed and should have a closer working relationship with paramedics. The warnings and recommendations have come from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which has spent more than two years investigating Mr Jobe’s death.
He died from asphyxiation in May 2004 after swallowing a bag of cannabis during an attempted arrest by plainclothes officers in Camden Town.
The IPCC released their final report – in summary – on Thursday and on the heels of recent pressure from the New Journal to have the findings put in the public domain.
It ruled that PC Clinton Jackson, the officer at the centre of the case, did not directly cause Mr Jobe’s death. Investigators said he was working in the face of a hostile crowd of hecklers and only had minutes to react.
But the IPCC said there had been a neglect of duty in PC Jackson’s failure to inform colleagues and paramedics that Mr Jobe might have swallowed an object. The report added: “The officer did not cause Mr Jobe’s tragic death and the medical evidence strongly suggested that he could not have prevented it.”
He had struggled with Mr Jobe on a canalside walkway before it became clear that he was finding it difficult to breath. Mr Jobe collapsed and could not be resuscitated.
His friends and family insisted that he was not a drug dealer and had been in Camden Town to relax by the canal in the sunshine.
Through lawyers, Mr Jobe’s family claimed PC Jackson should have had better life support skills and he had given differing accounts of the day Mr Jobe died.
The latter point was not upheld but the file said: “The IPCC accepted that the officer’s conduct in provision of life support fell below the standard expected of a police officer but decided that a disciplinary sanction was not appropriate.”
PC Jackson is understood to have since left the Camden ranks but is still working as an officer elsewhere. He declined to accept a written warning.
The IPCC’s broader comments were yesterday (Wednesday) being considered by Camden police.
The report described Camden Town as a place where the offer of drugs could be “guaranteed”. It said: “The officers were potentially exposed in an untenable position in that they were in an area where circumstances could guarantee the offer of being supplied drugs and they did not have the ‘back up’ which could have led to a controlled arrest of the suspects.” The report added: “Met Police statistics suggest that Camden has one of the largest numbers of persons attempting to swallow drugs in the Metropolitan Police area.
“The borough should ensure that officers are made aware of this fact. Consideration should be given for agreeing a Service Level Agreement with the London Ambulance Service to ensure that the necessary paramedic services are available during operations to target suspect drug suppliers.”
Senior Camden officers said yesterday (Wednesday) that safety procedures and risk assessments issues detailed in the report, and the issue of suspects swallowing drugs had already been considered. |
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