In response to the Metropolitan Police (Met) announcement of a new Race Action Plan, which promises a “communities-first, frontline focused, inclusive” policing model for Londoners, Green Party London Assembly Member Committee Zoë Garbett issued the following statement:
I want to express my respect for the efforts of the many Londoners who contributed to the development of this new policy.
However, I am deeply concerned that it has taken the Met almost two years to take a stand against racism after Baroness Casey's initial report. Additionally, I fear that this new plan fails to address the most important demands of Londoners.
The data is clear. Londoners do not want safer strip-searching policies for children: they want to prohibit strip-searching of all children.
Overcoming the entrenched racism in the Met will require much more than just a shiny press release.
2 comments:
Middle-class politicians, disconnected from the real challenges faced by police on the streets, don’t understand the realities of stop-and-search. It’s not children being strip-searched, but adolescents who may be involved in gangs and could be concealing weapons or drugs. London is one of the most diverse cities in the UK, with white people now a minority in many boroughs, particularly on estates. Expecting police to focus on white adolescents just to satisfy statistical quotas is unrealistic. Sometimes, statistics simply reflect the tough realities officers deal with every day.
A significant amount of time has passed during which many individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds have lost faith in the metropolitan police. This decline in trust appears to stem from the actions of certain officers who resist calls for necessary reforms, perpetuating the belief that ethnic minorities will be treated unfairly. This situation highlights an ongoing and unjust state of affairs in the UK.
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