all credits: Bolton News
published: 30 November 2021
A third probe into the death of former Bolton man Anthony Grainger has cleared police over the use of a CS gas canister. Several matters were referred by GMP to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after the public inquiry into Grainger’s 2012 shooting.
Two officers were quizzed over the use of an unauthorised CS gas canisters during a police operation in Culcheth that night. The canisters were used to deliver CS gas into vehicles, Before then live rounds had been deployed.
An IOPC inquiry has now ruled the pair “had not acted in bad faith” over the canisters. [Although] it was not authorised but paperwork had been filed over their usage. One previous IOPC follow-up inquiry cleared police deployment procedures and a second was dropped.
The latest probe heard the unauthorised CS dispersal canisters had been in use since 2007.
An investigation revealed “while national protocols for evaluating and acquiring the canisters were not followed, the evidence did not indicate that either officer acted dishonestly or in bad faith at any stage”.
The inquiry found the relevant code of practice did not expressly prohibit the use of weapons that had not received approval from the Home Secretary.
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