From this morning's Times
Jim Carroll

LONG LIST OF FATALITIES, BUT THE POLICE ARE RARELY FOUND GUILTY
Analysis Sean O'Neill

The last time police officers were convicted in connection with a death stemming from their actions while on duty was in 1971. Two officers were jailed for assaulting David Oluwale, a Nigerian whose body was found floating in the River Aire, Leeds, in 1969. Manslaughter charges had been dropped.
Their trial was told that the officers had regularly subjected Mr Oluwale to harassment and violence, and beat him with their truncheons on the night he disappeared.
Since then there has been a long list of cases and campaigns surrounding deaths after police contact and in police custody.
No one was ever held to account for the death of Blair Peach, the anti-fascist campaigner who was hit by police in Southall, West London, in 1979. The Metropolitan Police expressed "regret" in 2010.
Harry Stanley was shot dead by police in Hackney, East London, in 1999 when they acted on information that he was carrying a gun; it turned out to be a chair leg. An inquest verdict of unlawful killing was overturned in the High Court.
A clutch of West Midlands Police officers were tried over the death of Mikey Powell, who died in police custody in 2003. All were cleared.
The death of Azelle Rodney, shot by the Met in 2005, will be the subject this year of a judicial inquiry that holds public hearings. The Met was convicted of health and safety offences over the shooting dead of Jean Charles de Menezes the same year but no individual officers were charged.
The cases of Roger Sylvester, Robin Goodenough and Joy Gardner gave rise to political agitation, but not to convictions.
Deborah Coles, of the pressure group Inquest, has long campaigned for justice over deaths at the hands of the police and prison authorities, and says there are "systemic problems" that mean "deaths following police use of force are not treated as potential crimes".
She added: "It is vital that the rule of law is upheld and applies equally to all, including police officers, and that they do not believe that they can act with impunity.
"For too long there has been a pattern of cases where inquest juries have found overwhelming evidence of unlawful and excessive use of force or gross neglect and yet no police officer either at an individual or senior management level has been held responsible."