HUMAN rights organisations are raising the alarm over the government’s plans for policing, warning that forces will not be held to account.

Inquest, Amnesty International, Runnymede and the Centre for Women’s Justice published an open letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood today, calling for her to reconsider plans that will “weaken the public’s ability to scrutinise” police actions.

The plans would legislate to overturn a landmark judgment following the fatal shooting of unarmed Jermaine Baker in 2015, which sets a test for police officers to justify their use of force.

The government now intends to raise the threshold for challenging a police officer’s defence, a move campaigners warn would dramatically reduce the number of cases progressing to misconduct hearings.

The plans also aim to change the law relating to the Maughan case, which concerns the standard of proof required for an unlawful killing conclusion at an inquest.

If the government pushes ahead, it will become even harder for bereaved families and victims to attain accountability, campaigners say.

Campaigners warn that rather than weakening police accountability, it needs to be strengthened.

In 2024-25, there was a 9 per cent increase in police use of force, 17 deaths in and following police custody and two fatal police shootings.

Since 1990, only one serving police officer has been convicted of manslaughter and none for murder.

The letter’s signatories are requesting an urgent meeting with the Home Office.

Inquest director Deborah Coles said: “The rule of law must apply to police officers as it does to the rest of us.

“Changing the law to please the police lobby — at the expense of bereaved people and victims — will simply advance the culture of impunity.

“The government must urgently reconsider.”

Justice for Mouayed Bashir campaign’s Mohannad Bashir, whose brother died at the hands of police, said: “In plain English, the police want to be left unaccountable for their use of force.

“Mouayed’s death continues to have a huge impact on my family and me, but the system favours the police more than bereaved families.”

Amnesty International UK’s Alba Kapoor said: “These proposals sideline the voices of victims of wrongdoing and their families in their demands for justice.

“In a police force marred by evidence of institutional racism and misogyny, they also open the door to unchecked discrimination.”