[ad_1]
Metropolitan Police Sgt. Matiu Ratana died after being shot at the Croydon Custody Center in south London.
Source: Aaron Chown / PA Images
A police officer shot dead by a suspect in handcuffs at a south London station had moved into custody work because he thought it was safer as he neared retirement, a friend said.
Tributes have been spilled for Metropolitan Police Sgt. Matiu Ratana following his death after a 23-year-old gunman opened fire at the Croydon Custody Center in south London early yesterday morning.
Investigations continue into how the suspect, who had been arrested for possession of ammunition and possession of class B drugs, was able to access the weapon.
Ratana, known as Matt to family and friends, thought working in the custody room was his “safest option” as he approached the end of his long law enforcement career, said his friend Neil Donohue.
Donohue told BBC Breakfast: “He thought it was his safest option to just take him to retirement and nobody expected this to happen, certainly not inside police cells.”
He described the officer as “the kindest, most generous man I could ever meet,” and said he was “a really nice guy.”
Sergeant Ratana, 54, was originally from New Zealand and joined the force in 1991.
I met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, who with London Mayor Sadiq Khan led police officers through the capital in a minute of silence on Friday, describing Sergeant Ratana as a “talented police officer.”
He was “tall, big-hearted, kind, capable, a charming man and highly respected by his colleagues,” and he leaves behind a couple and an adult son, Dame Cressida said.
Police officers pay their respects at Croydon Custody Center
Source: Aaron Chown / PA Images
His partner’s sister told The Sun that he was aware of the dangers of being a police officer, but saw it as “all part of the job.”
Calling the news of his death “devastating,” he told the newspaper: “He dedicated himself to being a policeman and had almost 30 years of service.
“He knew the dangers of working in London, but for him it was all part of the job.”
The suspect, who had been arrested for possession of class B drugs with the intention of supplying and possessing ammunition, also shot himself during the incident at around 2.15am and is in critical but stable condition in hospital.
No police firearms were fired and the case is not being treated as terrorism related.
The security services did not consider it a topic of concern, the Palestinian Authority news agency understands, but reports suggest that it may have previously been referred to the anti-extremism program Prevent.
A murder investigation was launched and investigators from the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) watchdog attended the scene.
The IOPC has obtained CCTV from the custody center, as well as video footage of the officers present in the body.
These will now be reviewed in the coming days and the initial accounts of the officers present will also be taken.
The suspect was arrested by regular officers after an arrest and search, then handcuffed behind his back before being taken to the station in a police vehicle.
The IOPC said he was taken to the building and sat in a holding area in the custody room, then opened fire while still handcuffed as officers prepared to search him with a metal detector.
No news is bad news
Support the magazine
your contributions help us continue to deliver the stories that are important to you
Support us now
IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said: “It is at that moment that the shots were fired that resulted in fatal injuries to the officer and critical injuries to the man.
“A non-police firearm, which appears to be a revolver, has been recovered from the scene. More ballistic work will be required. “
Leroy Logan, a former Met superintendent, said there were questions to be answered about the circumstances that led to the shooting.
“How did that person get to the station, either in the courtyard or in the building itself, and was able to produce a weapon, whether it’s on them at the time?” he told BBC News.
Meanwhile, Andy Trotter, a former deputy deputy commissioner of the Met and also a former chief of police for the British Transport Police, said increasing the length of sentences was not enough to prevent crimes against emergency workers.
He told Times Radio: “We are increasingly becoming a very difficult society to control.
“We have to analyze this in a generalized way and simply saying that we are going to put the sentences will not solve that. It has to be about prevention and detection, and much more than that. “
Sergeant Ratana is the eighth UK police officer to be shot and killed in the last 20 years and the first to be killed with a firearm in the line of duty from PC Fiona Bone, 32, and Nicola Hughes, 23, in September 2012.
The Met sergeant is the 17th in the force to be killed by a firearm since the end of World War II, according to the National Police honor roll.
[ad_2]