Jamelia in police stop and search outrage

With stop and search rates of black people in London and Birmingham going through the roof, this week saw two high profile black celebrities take to twitter to complain bitterly about being the victims of police racism.

First England and British Lions rugby star 28-year-old Ugo Moyne was pulled over by the London Metropolitan Police in his top of the range Range Rover whilst driving through Richmond an area that has one of the highest stop and search rates for black people anywhere in the UK.

Then in Birmingham soul singing superstar Jamelia complained that the increasingly notorious West Midlands Police were targeting her every time she drives in her hometown. London and Birmingham remain the top stop and search hot spots for black people and these two cities account for the vast majority of stop and searches nationally.

The culture of racial profiling of black people within the police is rampant. Each year the figures increase with no proportionate increase in the number of people arrested.

The 30-year-old Jamelia vented her frustration on the micro blogging site, posting:

'The police make me f****** sick... The amount [sic] of times I've been pulled over for nothing is ridiculous... racism is alive and kicking people.'

Talking to her followers, Jameila spoke about a recent incident where she was questioned by police while sat in her car:

'They checked everything... including my tyre pressure (all legit). They then went on to say they don't see how this can be my car!

'They didn't know I was Jamelia when they approached me, they just saw a black girl in an Adidas tracksuit and cap, in an expensive car.'

The British R&B artist claimed she is stopped 'at least once a month' just because of the colour of her skin and the fact that she is driving an expensive car.

Monye was pulled over in his Range Rover in Richmond, London, by officers who he claimed ‘presumed his car was stolen’. Police were later forced to apologize to Monye,

After the incident Monye wrote on the Twitter;

“Just been pulled over by police in Richmond… They ‘presumed the car was stolen’. I’m furious. Wasting my time.” Ugo , who has 13 England caps, made an official complaint to the police, who were very quick to apologize about the incident."

“Have rung the police and made an official complaint. Waiting for a call from the supervisor later. Let’s see,” Monye wrote in another tweet.

Senior police officials later responded to the complaint made by Monye and resolved the issue.

“Was frustrated earlier with the police… but they rang back, apologized, all has been dealt with. Fair play to them,” he tweeted.

These two cases constitute police harassment in my view because as we all know the police can check number plates and now instantly see if that car is stolen or has both tax and insurance. If the check on the vehicle does not show any reason to stop the care why then are police taking action?

Simple answer is that they are incredulous as to why young black people, who they have stereotyped as a bunch of criminals, can be driving a car way beyond their pay bracket. A combination of racial stereotyping and plain old jealousy gives rise to these stops. Both Jamelia and Ugo were guilty of nothing more than being young black and successful. In the eyes of a bigot in a uniform they have committed the cardinal sin of driving whilst black.

Both instantly took Twitter to complain about their treatment and alert their fans and followers. This could start a new trend with thousands of black people tweeting about their experience of being stopped by the police.

The combination of new technology and anti racism is gathering pace and now a group of young people have created a remarkable mobile phone application that allows young people to personally monitor and record the use of police's controversial stop and search powers.

Aaron Sonson, 23, Satwant Singh Kenth, 26, and Gregory Paczkowski, 19, study at the High Trees Community Development Trust and were tasked with creating an “app” that would be useful to them and their community and you can find out more about the app on their website.

The app allows you to record the location date time and place your search took place and store the information on line. The app also lets you add additional details such as the office number and increasing young people are recording their interactions with the police on their mobile phones.

Great new developments in the battle against racism and as for twitter I can see it new trend emerging with celebrity endorsement #DrivingWhilstBlack or #StoppedforBeingBlackinPublic.

Lee Jasper