Do you know this racially abusive man?

From Metropolitan Police

Police are appealing for assistance in identifying a man who racially abused a mother and her child on a London bus.

At around 17:20hrs on Saturday 16 June, the 49-year-old woman boarded a southbound Number 18 bus in Wembley along with her 11-year-old son.*

While on board the bus, a man, who had got on at the same stop, become abusive towards the woman and the boy. Over a period of around ten minutes, the man verbally abused the pair, using extremely abusive language and racial slurs.

Police are appealing for assistance in tracing a man in connection with the incident. The image of the man has been circulated to local officers, but, having been unable to trace him, police are asking for assistance from members of the public or for the man himself to come forward.

Anyone with information can call PC Mike Willcox of the Safer Transport team at Brent on 020 8733 3809. To remain anonymous, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

* Note from Martin Francis: I have since heard via social media that the boy was 8 years old not 11.

French attempt to ban Saturday's Convoy to Calais

From the People's Assembly Against Austerity

The Convoy to Calais this Saturday is now facing a last minute ban by the French authorities. Thousands of people have collected aid from across the county and over 200 vehicles have booked to come on the convoy.

Last night we were contacted by the Metropolitan Police who informed us that the French authorities have decided to ban the Convoy to Calais from entering France and we will not be granted permission to cross the border.

We are doing all in our power to get this overturned. It is more important than ever that we go ahead and show the strength of feeling and support for refugees. If the authorities still refuse to let us cross the channel we will be holding a protest in Dover.

We will still assemble the convoy on Whitehall at 8:30am and will drive to Dover
We are in negotiations to get the ban lifted and are putting political pressure here and in France to allow the convoy to cross the French boarder

How you can help:

Sign and share the petition

Calling for a reversal of the ban and demanding that our Government get involved. Sign the petition here

Come to the London Rally - Friday 17 June
We will be holding a public rally the evening before the convoy leaves in London. We'll give a full update about the situation. Details: Refugees Welcome, Convoy to Calais London Rally - Friday 17 June, 6:30pm, Emmanuel Centre, Westminster, SW1.

Speakers include: John McDonnell MP, Gary Younge, Rufus Hound, Kate Osamor MP, Roger McKenzie & more. Please register your place here

Come on the convoy, join the demonstration - Saturday 18 June
Even if you haven't booked a place on the ferry, we now need to make sure maximum pressure is put on Governments to let the convoy through to make sure the aid can be delivered and solidarity can be shown to the refugees. We need every last vehicle possible to assemble on Whitehall at 8:30am.

If you don't have a vehicle come down and see the convoy off - speeches in Parliament Square will start at 9:30am and will be followed by an hours silence from 12pm - 1pm in solidarity with refugees.

If you have booked to come on the convoy please keep checking your emails - we will be sending out regular updates.

If you have any questions contact calaisconvoy@gmail.com

Spread the word!


The People's Assembly Against Austerity
http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/

Met's message on 'hate crime' following Paris attacks

The Metropolitan Police have sent this message following the events in Paris. The Football Association has advised fans attending tomorrow's England France friendly at Wembley Stadium to arrive early to allow time to get through additional security checks. They are also asked to be in their seats by 7.55am to take part in post-Paris preliminaries.

Yellow box junction to be installed at Wembley Asda crossing

Asda junction at quiet time - in morning peak the junction is blocked with traffic (Google View)

In a twitter response to posts on Friday LINK and Tuesday LINK Brent Council has promised action on the Asda crossing (above).

Initially this will be installation of a yellow box junction and further proposals are being developed. These proposals should also cover the junction of Bridge Road/Forty Lane/ Forty Avenue where multiple pedestrian crossing places used by school children present a hazard.

Forty Lane, Bridge Road, Forty Avenue, Barn Hill junction

 Videos of the Asda junction danger are available HERE and HERE.

Brent Council, Met Police and TfL fail to take action on danger to children

There is increased frustration amongst local residents in Wembley Park over the fact that the combined forces of Brent Council, Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police to tackle the traffic danger in what is known as the Forty Lane, Bridge Road, Forty Avenue corridor.

This is a letter written by local resident earlier this month which has so far received no response.

Safer Schools Partnership

Wembley Police Station

603 Harrow Road

Wembley

HA0 2HH

1 October 2015

Good morning –

I’m a Brent resident who uses the roads around Wembley Park Station on a daily basis in my commute to my office.  I’ve been increasingly concerned about the traffic over the last 10 months, my first email to Brent Council on 6 February 2015, my latest in the last week.  I see traffic violations on a daily basis and there are large numbers of Students in the area, travelling to Preston Manor, Ark Academy and the new Lycee Winston Churchill crossing busy roads.  Brent Council inform me there will be a Transport Study in progress envisaged to commence from Summer 2016, but I am extremely concerned that there will be a serious accident if not fatality in the area before then involving pedestrians.  I’m attaching a copy of the emails between myself and members of Brent Council, notably Sandor Fazekas from which I hope you will note my comments regarding the problems I see on a daily basis.  This has also been taken up by Martin Francis on his blog Wembley Matters, a copy of the relevant page is also attached to this letter.

Just yesterday I was on an 83 bus travelling from my home to Wembley Park Station and with the weight of traffic the bus I was on blocked the pedestrian green man crossing at Asda, with children trying to find their way around vehicles to get to the traffic island.  On Tuesday, again on the bus, I witnessed four cars in a row drive down Kings Drive (with the main entrance to the Lycee) and continue straight across (5 lanes of traffic) into Asda’s and do a U-turn onto Forty Lane against the left turn only signs.  This is a shortcut to avoid The Paddocks queue, drivers looking for quick short cuts and it happens on a daily basis.

I really would appreciate any assistance you can provide in this matter -

Yours faithfully

Ann Fitzgerald

Cc Inspector Peter Weaver, Barnhill Safer Neighbourhood Team

Police 'call-in' of South Kilburn youth seen as threatening and undermining justice principles

The above letter written to some local young people by the Metropolitan Police Brent Borough Commander has unsurprisingly caused them and their parents considerable alarm as well as raising the issue of civil liberties and what appears to be an undermining of the principle of 'Innocent until proven guilty'.

Particularly disquieting is the last paragraph which appears to contain a threat of continuing police harassment if the recipient does not comply. It has also given rise to fears that this constitutes another example of racial profiling by the police when their are concerns about disproportionality regarding Stop and search in the local BME community (see table at the end of the article).

The apparently template letter contains no evidence that the recipient is involved in criminal activity.

The Guardian has covered the issue in detail LINK.  Cecil Gutzmore who attended the meeting as an observer from the London campaign Against police and State Violence said that the two recipients and their mothers who attended the meeting were 'very strong' and that the police conceded that the tone of the letter was wrong.

The Guardian article reports:

Roy Croasdaile, chairman of the Brent Stop and Search Monitoring Group, who saw the letter in advance, said he was not comfortable with its content, although he supported the meeting’s aim. “I was the first person to amend and send feedback from the young man I spoke to and [his] solicitors to the police with regard to the ambiguity and offence that was taken,” he said. 

“After all, it was meant to be an invitation to obtain support and was received as threatening. We have all learned lessons from this for the future and I would like to think that this will not be repeated.”

Croasdaile added that the two young men who did attend proved to be “the stars of the meeting”, making a big impact on how it progressed and engaging with the charitable groups that had come to help them

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said that the letter was deliberately strongly worded to ensure gang members were in no doubt about what awaited them if they continued with their 'current behaviour'.


Giovanna Midgeley of StopWatch said

It is bewildering that Brent police will be considering non-responses from households an admission of criminal activity. Guilt is proven by good police work, not by whether someone attends a meeting or not.

The 'call-in' strategy is similar to that used in the Operation Shield pilot in  Lambeth. A critique of the strategy has been submitted by the organisation London Against Police Violence and can be found HERE

From the Brent Stop and Search Equality impact Assessment: LINK

Ibrahim Taguri confirms he will not stand as an Independent in Brent Central

As Brent Green Party was meeting across the road, the signage at Ibrahim Taguri's temporary campaign office in Walm Lane was being taken down last night. Earlier Ibrahim had confirmed to me that he would not be standing as an Independent in the General Election. He had anticipated a quick resolution of the allegations about donations made in the Daily Telegraph but this has not happened.

Lauren Keith was last week selected as the Liberal Democrat candidiate for Brent Central.

On March 26th the Electoral Commission made the following statement:

The Electoral Commission has today (26 March 2015) provided an update on its consideration of two separate allegations regarding donations to the Liberal Democrat Party.

Daily Telegraph allegations

Following the allegations that appeared recently on The Telegraph online (11 March) and subsequently in the newspaper regarding Ibrahim Taguri and donations to the Liberal Democrats, the Electoral Commission requested information from the newspaper, the party and Mr Taguri to help it establish the facts in the case.

Based on the information that the Commission has seen, one alleged offence centres on the potential evasion of restrictions on donations in contravention of section 61 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA). Offences under this part of PPERA are ultimately a criminal matter and fall outside of the Commission’s civil sanctioning powers.

The Electoral Commission has therefore passed the information that it has received to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). The MPS have confirmed to the Commission that they are also aware of the allegations and that they are considering them.

Channel 4’s ‘Dispatches’ 

Following the allegations that appeared as part of Channel 4’s Dispatches programme (23 March), the Electoral Commission requested further information from the programme to help it establish the facts in the case.

Based on the information that the Commission has seen, the alleged offence in this case centres on the potential evasion of restrictions on donations in contravention of section 61 of PPERA and is ultimately a criminal matter. As a result, the Commission has also passed the information that it has received to MPS who are aware of the allegations and are considering them.

Donations received in the course of both cases

In both of these cases, the Liberal Democrat Party received a number of donations.

One donation in the Telegraph case, a cheque for £7,650 was delivered to the party. However, it had not been banked and the funds had not cleared and as a result no offence was committed under the donation rules set out in PPERA.

The other donations included one of £1,450 made by the undercover reporter in the Telegraph case that was received and accepted by the party; and another of £10,000 received from the ‘step father’ of the undercover donor in the Dispatches case, Mr Paul Wilmott. The Commission is in contact with the Liberal Democrats about the actual source of these donations and will provide a separate statement about this matter once these further facts have been established.

Next steps

Any decisions about what further steps to take at this stage in relation to potential evasion of restrictions on donations in either case rest with the Metropolitan Police Service.

Should further facts emerge in relation to The Telegraph allegations or Channel 4’s Dispatches, which could lead the Electoral Commission to consider any other potential breaches of PPERA, the Commission will do so in line with its enforcement policy.

'No prosecution' decision in Kensal Rise Library email fraud investigation provokes anger

--> Brent Council has been informed that the Crown Prosecution Service is to take no action regarding the fraudulent emails sent in support of Andrew Gillick's original planning application for Kensal Rise Library.
Arnold Meagher, Brent Council's Principal Lawyer, Housing and Litigation Team wrote:

I write to advise that the Council has been informed of the outcome of the investigation regarding Mr Gillick and the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service.

The Crown Prosecution Service has decided that there is insufficient evidence to support any prosecution against Mr Gillick and therefore, no further action will be taken against him.

The Council has been advised by the Metropolitan Police that the partnership Brent Borough Chief Inspector, Andy Jones, is aware of this decision. The Metropolitan Police has requested that any queries regarding the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service go through Andy Jones.

70 or so fraudulent emails had been sent including one using the name and address of local business woman Kirsty Slattery.

Reacting to the news this afternoon she said:

I think the whole process has been purposely drawn out and detrimental to the people and businesses it affected. 

So somehow no one is responsible for these acts of fraud (?) according to the CPS and at no point has anyone even received an apology from Brent Council. 

The fraud affected my business as it misrepresented my standing in the community. This should never have been allowed to happen, someone ought to have been held accountable for these deceitful actions and the very least I would expect is a sincere apology. 

Kensal Rise Councillor Dan Filson was even more scathing: 

This news seems released by the CPS deliberately at a time when attention is elsewhere. Shame on the CPS.

I am appalled that an attempt - by whoever, though the email thread heading may offer a clue - to pervert the planning process had not resulted in a prosecution. 

It would be useful to know if the reason for this decision is insufficient evidence linking the alleged perpetrator to the offence(s) or an unclear charge upon which a prosecution could be hung? 

A dangerous precedent has been set, that a fraudulent attempt to mislead a planning authority as to the level of support for a planning application from the community and as to who in that community is supporting it by way of impersonation. We don't now know whether this stunt has been pulled in respect of other applications in this or other boroughs.

Questions should be asked in the House of Commons

The issue of the fraudulent emails has been a long and complicated affair. In September 2013 The Save Kensal Rise Library Campaign wrote on their website:

We are expecting the council to pursue the origins of the fraudulent submissions of support for the planning submission as reported in The Kilburn Times and The Evening Standard last week.
We have been promised an investigation and report as soon as possible.

Help us to keep up the pressure on the council to find out where this dodgy support comes from by writing to the Leader of the Council and your local councillors asking them to make sure the council makes every effort to find out who is guilty of this fraudulent support. We can’t allow local democracy to be undermined  by such abuse of the consultative processes of the council.

The police later appeared to have dropped the investigation but after the demolition of the pop up library in February 2014 both the Council and Muhammed Butt made statements to the Willesden and Wembley Observer:

A spokesman for Brent Council said:

The council undertook its own detailed enquiries before referring the matter to the police and provided the police with a summary of the outcome as part of the agreed referral process through the National Fraud Reporting Centre. The council remains very concerned about the way that the planning portal was used on this occasion and has subsequently made changes to forestall future problems arising. The council wants to continue to maintain the highest level of integrity with its planning process, since the authority continues to have statutory responsibilities to consider planning applications that are submitted. 

Labour leader of the council Muhammed Butt said:

It is bitterly disappointing that the police have chosen to ignore the evidence found in the council’s own inquiries and drop their investigation. When the future of the building affects hundreds of Brent residents and the entire Kensal Rise community, any issue of alleged fraud must surely be a priority in order to maintain the trust of local people. 

Whilst I know that this Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government has cut the police force by a fifth in the last three years, I am troubled that this investigation has not been carried out as a matter of urgency. Brent Council will be writing to demand that the police review their original decision and launch an appropriate investigation.

The investigation was reinstated with various sections of the police  responsible at any one time and recently there has been a long silence on the matter despite frequent requests for information.
I agree that the final outcome is far from satisfactory.

Will Sir Bernard give us the latest on Met's Kensal Rise fraud investigation?

The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, is visiting Brent on Wednesday. The visit is advertised as a chance to 'talk to him, listen to his vision for London and share your thoughts and ideas'.

The meeting is from 6.30pm-7.30pm (doors open 6pm) on July 16th at Alperton Community School, Stanley Avenue, Wembley.

In the absence of any other commmunication from the Met perhaps he can tell us how the investigation into the fraudulent emails in support the Kensal Rise Library development is going?

Barnet planning email fraud allegation withdrawn

Barnet Today LINK reported yesterday that a woman and her husband had their identities stolen in fake emails sent in support of a planning application for a development by Bespoke Solutions.

The case bears a strong resemblance to the Kensal Rise fraudulent email issue and raises a concern that this may be a more widespread tactic that anyone has realised. It certainly suggests that the police should give a higher priority to the Kensal Rise investigation.

STOP PRESS The report has now been removed so the link above will not work. North London Press said:

 The woman retracted the allegation and requested the story be removed

This is all very strange as the woman's allegation was specific and detailed saying that her address and email had been used in support of the development, as well as the work address of her husband, in submissions that they had not sent.

There's only one thing for it: call Miss Marple

CID investigation of email fraud should delay Kensal Rise planning hearing

Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt this afternoon tweeted 'Glad to hear Kensal Rise Library consultation fraud case is being taken forward by Met police CID'.

This confirmation arrives after substantial pressure from residents that the case should not be dropped, despite Andrew Gillick, the Kensal Rise developer, reaching an agreement with the Friends of Kensal Rise Library over community space in the building.

As argued previously on this blog, in the light of the investigation and possible prosecution, the planning hearing for Mr Gillick's development should be postponed until the outcome is known. A statement from Christine Gilbert, Brent Council's Acting Chief Executive, is awaited following consultations with Andrew Donald, head of Regeneration and Planning and Cllr Ketan Sheth, chair of the planning committee.

Met accused of 'spying' on Green Party councillor

The Metropolitan Police have been accused of ‘spying’ on a Green Party councillor in Kent.

The accusations follow a Freedom of Information request revealing 22 police records relating to the Councillor Ian Driver’s activities as a campaigner in his local area

The majority of entries relate to Driver’s role as an organiser of a campaign protesting against the export of live animals from Ramsgate and Dover ports. One record notes a meeting in support of equal marriage organised by Councillor Driver.

The records released to Driver by the Metropolitan Police after he submitted a Data Protection Subject Access Request include 22 database entries covering the period June 2011 until June 2013.

Keith Taylor, Green Party Member of the European Parliament for the South East, will write to the Metropolitan Police insisting they delete the records.

Mr Taylor said:

It beggars belief that the Metropolitan Police have been recording the lawful activities of an elected councillor working in his community. Surely police officers have better ways to spend their time.

This revelation follows the folly of the Metropolitan Police’s long-running obsession with keeping tabs on environmental activists. All too often they are wasting taxpayers money.

There’s no doubt that the Metropolitan Police should remove these records of Ian Driver from their database.

Councillor Ian Driver said: 

A friend advised me to submit a data access request after I told him about how the police were taking photos and car number plates of everyone attending anti-live animal exports demonstrations. When I got the results back, I was flabbergasted. There was a page and half of database entries taken from what I believe is commonly known as the “Domestic Extremism Data Base” which is held by the Metropolitan Police.

All of the activities I have engaged in during the campaign against live animal exports from Ramsgate and Dover have been perfectly legal and above board. I simply can’t believe that hard pressed Police forces would waste time and money spying on me simply because I have exercised my democratic rights to peacefully protest and speak out against a brutal and barbaric trade.

I was amazed to note that one of the records mentions a meeting I organised in support of Equal Marriage at Margate in 2012. This is something which the Prime Minster, the Deputy Minister and Leader of the Opposition of this country all support, but for reasons unknown to me the Police decided that my act of organising this meeting should be recorded in a database used for spying on extremists and subversives. You couldn’t make this nonsense up

Vernon says mental health is now 'core business' for the Met

Patrick Vernon, who is campaigning for Labour's Brent Central nomination has posted an article on his blog  LINK about the Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing in which he took part.

He said:

The inquiry report makes mental health core business for Metropolitan Police Service. At times it was real hard and emotionally challenging to examine and review the 55 cases along with listening to the families’ experiences of the systematic failure leading to the death of their love ones. Respect to all the families who are still fighting for justice and peace

Some of the key findings in the report include:

• In most cases, there were failures in systems, mis-judgments or errors by individuals, resource limitations, poor co-ordination with other services or discriminatory attitudes towards people with mental illness that led eventually to these deaths.
• People with mental health issues complained they were treated like criminals by the police. They also felt individuals with mental health issues were handled with too much force, that the police should engage more with the families, and that police and NHS staff should have more mental health training.
• Many families said they could not understand why there was not better liaison between agencies. Some professionals made similar points in evidence.
• The Commission did have access to MPS files. However paper files and records were incomplete. This is clearly unacceptable for a 21st Century, customer-focused police service.
• Care pathways must be recognised and developed and there needs to be greater operational working together, such as inter-agency working within the NHS, clinical commissioning groups and local government.
• The Commission’s report was based on evidence direct from families over five years, MPS files as well as wide consultation with the public, service users and professionals. The Commission panel was independent and made up of experts who gave detailed consideration to the evidence.

Meanwhile Vernon, along with Muhammed Butt and former Brent South MP Lord Boateng, are involved in a project aimed at mentoring individuals who have been through the mental or criminal justice systemsL

PLIAS Resettlement is stepping up to the mark to fill a gap with the development of a mentoring programme geared towards supporting the over representation of BME individuals who have been through the criminal justice or mental health systems. PLIAS is offering a solution based mentoring and support programme for BME members of the community which aims to reduce re-offending.  This project supports alternatives to custody and diversionary activities by delivering supported care in the community.

The mentoring programme is the cornerstone of PLIAS Resettlement Court Liaison and Diversion Project. By equipping and empowering BME individuals with mental health issues to improve their lives and achieve their vision through personal mentoring relationships, PLIAS Resettlement is positioning the organisation to be a major advocate for BME individuals to guide them into making good choices for themselves

Whither police accountability in the GLA?

Fun and games with an empty chair at the GLA leaves serious questions over accountability:  LINK

Good to see Jenny Jones pressing for answers.

Met racism review should include stop and search

Research by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has shown that the Metropolitan Police Service are 11 times more likely to stop and search black people than white people. The research looked at the powers used under section 60 of the 1994 Public Order Act, which does not require suspicion of involvement in crime. 
 
The EHRC found that in 2010-11, the Metropolitan Police stopped 32.8 out of every 1,000 black people in its area. The figures also show section 60 may be ineffective in fighting crime. According to the report in England as a whole 2.3% of section 60 stop and searches resulted in an arrest in 2010-11.
 
Responding to the research Green Party Assembly Member Jenny Jones  said: 
 
This research shows black youth are being disproportionately targeted with stop and search. It’s no wonder some communities feel over policed and under protected when they are targeted in this way. The Met has to stop the amount of wasteful stop and searches it currently carries out. It’s alienating communities and has a poor arrest rate for the damage it does.
 
The Met need to act on the findings of this research to address the problems of disproportionality in section 60 stop and searches now, or face losing this power. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime should widen its review into racism within the Met to include the ongoing problem of disproportionality with stop and search.