Met officers undermine police Chief's drive for change

Just at the time when the Met Commissionor Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe was meeting with Black leaders and promising wholesale changes in the way the Met Police police inner city areas, revelations of shocking police practices have emerged.

Kei-Retta Farrel reports.

Early this month allegations that the Metropolitan police were deliberately putting gang members in danger by dropping them off in rival territories emerged. The Independent Police Complaints Commission were told of a handful of occasions where young people detained over suspected gang activity had been taken into custody for questioning and then purposely released into the domain of a rival gang, placing them at risk of being seriously injured. The IPCC went on further to say:

These are serious allegations and we have actively encouraged organisations working with young people, and indeed young people themselves, to bring any relevant cases to our attention, or to make complaints about this issue where they feel confident to do so.”

These allegations against the MET police come at a time where reform is heavy on the minds of the government and other police practices such as stop and search are under scrutiny. Last July the Home Office launched a 6 week consultation into police powers. Figures show that BME men are disproportionately targeted by the police. In 2001 Home Office statistics black men were 5 times more likely to be stopped and searched than their white counterparts, by 2013 this figure rose to 7. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that is some areas of London and the West Midlands this figure was as high as 29. It was also reported that more than 90% of searches do not lead to arrests.

The record high stop and search figures have prompted the Home Secretary Teresa May MP to introduce a “comprehensive package” for reform. However despite her calls for the figures to fall it was evident that May lost her battle in persuading her peers that legislation to rein in the use of stop and search should be included in the Queens speech:

Nobody wins when stop and search is misapplied. It is a waste of police time. It is unfair, especially to young black men. It is bad for public confidence in the police”

Last year an estimated five million unrecorded traffic searches occurred and 250,000 unrecorded street searches. Such figures legitimise May's calls for reform.

Despite being over-represented in most stages of the Criminal Justice process, members of the BME community remain under-represented in senior positions within the Criminal Justice System. With only 3% of senior police officers in England and Wales identifying as BME, reflecting the disillusionment of the BME community with the police and bolstering the negative rhetoric of the police so prominent within those communities.

Given the trajectory of poor relations between the BME community and the police it is no wonder there is uproar. In past years the Stephen Lawrence inquiry found the Met police to be institutionally racist and the killing of Mark Duggan sparked off nationwide riots that lasted weeks and conveyed decades of frustration within the community.

What is clear is that unless there is radical and permanent change, these new allegations coupled with the continuous outcries against stop and search will further diminish the trust between the police and the BME community, compromising their right to safety. This affects how people perceive the police, many out of fear of discrimination do not cooperate with the police and are unlikely to report crimes if they are victims or witnesses. Perpetuating a less safe environment and prompting many to look elsewhere to security and protection.

The misuse and overuse of Stop and Search powers at the personal expense of the BME community has far too long been ignored. There is an innate connection between human rights and stop and search powers that needs to be widely recognised, and so stop and search powers in their current form and practices that place individuals at risk of being seriously injured cannot continue.

Kei-Retta Farrel