Could the Tottenham riots have been prevented?

Amid all the anguish and recriminations of the riots, there’s one central unanswered question: What really happened in the 48 hours after Mark Duggan was shot dead in Tottenham.

Once Mr Duggan was pronounced dead on Thursday night, jurisdiction for the killing automatically passed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

By the following morning word on the street was Mark Duggan, who was born and bred on the Broadwater Farm estate, had been executed. But no one had yet contacted Mr Duggan’s parents.

As night fell some four hundred people had gathered at the Duggan family’s home on the estate to pay their respects. Tensions were rising, passions were inflamed.

But it was not until Saturday morning that community leaders were called to an urgent meeting with police in Tottenham.

Warnings missed by police

Channel 4 News has obtained the confidential minutes to this crucial meeting, which happened 7 hours before Tottenham was to go up in flames. It reveals evidence of police being warned over and over again by community representatives.

One said the word on the street is that this was an execution. Another said the community were not happy. Another said there was a lot of distrust. And one more urged police to be out in the community.

The minutes reveal that the Police felt their hands were “tied” in what they could say to the community due to the ongoing investigations being undertaken by the IPCC.

The officer who chaired the meeting detective superintendent Gurdup Singh at one stage said “our hands are tied with what we know and what we can say” and “….we want to recommend to the IPCC that they communicate to reassure the communities”

The Police told Channel 4 News that community concerns were passed on to the IPCC, but the IPCC told Channel 4 News that they were not contacted until 8pm that evening.

The events in Tottenham reveal a lack of clarity in the rules governing responsibility for community liaison between the MPS and the IPCC when serious incidents occur.

Junior officer left to deal with protest

In the crucial intervening hours, the lead officer left Tottenham. A more junior officer was left to deal with an impending demonstration by Mark Duggan’s family who wanted answers about the shooting and to report what they saw as a murder. They waited and waited until the shutters at Tottenham police station came down.

A Chief Inspector came out to speak to the crowd, they demanded a more senior officer. While they waited, the numbers in front of the Police station grew.

At 8.15pm, the Duggan family gave up and went home. Within minutes, cars were set alight. And so began the first in a series of riots across the country.

The Metropolitan Police told Channel 4 News tonight: “Senior officers were aware of some concerns being expressed by particular community leaders.

“However they had no definitive intelligence to indicate that events would escalate as quickly and as violently as they did.”

IPCC says it’s reviewing how it handled the entire case and is now engaging with communities directly to obtain their feed back.

By now dark clouds were looming. The IPCC were finally contacted at 8 o’clock that night – 20 minutes before the first police car was set on fire.

The demonstrators, frustrated at they way they’d been treated, made plans to leave. But by this time a large crowd had gathered in Tottenham, many of them filled with anger.

An hour later there was another call to the IPCC that Tottenham had erupted.

The Metropolitan Police told Channel 4 News tonight: “Senior officers were aware of some concerns being expressed by particular community leaders.

“However they had no definitive intelligence to indicate that events would escalate as quickly and as violently as they did.”

The IPCC says it’s reviewing how it handled the entire case and is now engaging with communities directly to obtain their feed back.

Some in the communities see the Metropolitan Police as impotent. Many have memories of 25 years ago when Broadwater Farm was the scene of ugly and violent riots. They wonder what happened to the lessons which were supposedly learnt back then?