The story goes…

Sean Rigg dies in a caged area in Brixton Police Station in August 2008 and the Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPCC) are called in to investigate. Sean's family are shocked at the death and this soon turns to anger when the government appointed IPCC begin to make error after error in its inquiry – is it incompetence or collusion?

Sean's family begin a four year struggle to investigate the death themselves and in the process ask, 'Who Polices The Police?'

The film is a blow-by-blow account of their journey, as they question the police officers' accounts, visit the crime scene, speak to witnesses, examine evidence. Harrowing footage emerges that show the last moments of Sean's life. The family watch in horror. The conclusion they come to – Sean died at the hands of the police.

Using powerful testimonies, poetry and a political analysis of police violence, the film explores the tactics of the IPCC and, through the family of Sean Rigg, challenge its claim that it is independent of the police. Meanwhile the deaths the IPCC oversees, continue.

Protecting the image of the police becomes an alter on which hundreds of people that have died in police custody are sacrificed. The IPCC administer last rites and no officers are ever successfully prosecuted for their crimes.

In the film the facts of political appointments and ex-police officers leading the investigation teams, are exposed. The might of the state is challenged by one family.

'Who Polices The Police?' builds fragments of reality, of memory and of resistance into a powerful document about a struggle for justice.

A Migrant Media Production.

A trailer for the film follows below (although it's really just the opening sequence of the film); you can watch the full hour-long documentary HERE on Vimeo; the filmmaker hasn't allowed it to shared for some reason (h/t EC Forde for the link):

Who Polices The Police? – Trailer from Migrant Media on Vimeo.