Newham Monitoring Project

Volunteer to become an NMP Community Legal Observer during the Olympics

2012-05-29T17:14:00.000+01:00

This summer, the eyes of the world will be on east London during the Olympics. Communities across east London and visitors to the area will witness an extensive policing and security operation with up to 12,000 officers on the ground during peak days. A prime community concern is the impact of this on equality and human rights entitlements.

Community Legal Observers can play a pivotal role in addressing this by:

• Being present on the ground to listen to, observe and respond to community concerns
• Ensuring people are aware of and can utilise their rights by distributing rights information
• Monitoring, recording and reporting back any treatment by the police or security officers that appears unlawful, discriminatory or improper
• Signposting people to access independent advice, support and legal referral for arrest and detention to NMP’s 24-hour freephone emergency helpline

Newham Monitoring Project, an independent anti-racist and civil justice organisation, will be coordinating a team of trained Community Legal Observers in areas surrounding the Olympic sites for the duration of the Olympics and Paralympics.

The provision of Legal Observers / Human Rights Monitors is a long established tradition in east London dating back to the 1930’s, acting as the eyes and ears of those on the ground and providing unique support to communities during public events and protests. This summer, we need your help to do this!

How to volunteer to become an NMP Community Legal Observer

To become part of the NMP Community Legal Observer team you need to attend one of the following training sessions. Training is free and will be held on the following dates:

Saturday 9th June 2012 11am - 4pm
Friday 15th June 2012 11am - 4pm

at The Harold Road Centre, 170 Harold Road, London, E13 0SE

What the training will cover:

- The Olympic ‘landscape’ and its impact on east London
- Understanding the role of Community Legal Observers
- Overview of human rights issues and the law in relation to this: Stop & Search powers, dispersal zones, curfew powers, arrest and detention
- Overview of law specific to the Olympics and potential impact at a community level
- Details of how the Community Legal Observer Team will be coordinated and supported by NMP

The training is open to anyone over the age of 18. You do not need a background in law as you will not be providing legal advice. Volunteers should be able to offer some availability during day and evening shifts across Newham from July 27th – September 9th 2012.

To register, email spw@nmp.org.uk or use the contact form on our website providing your contact details stating which date you can attend. Alternatively you can call us on 02084708333 for further details.

NMP is supported by The Network for Police Monitoring in launching this project.

Police announce Olympic Dispersal Zone in Stratford

2012-05-02T16:39:00.000+01:00

This article was written Kevin Blowe, a long-standing Newham Monitoring Project supporter

Yesterday, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that a three month dispersal zone had begun in the Stratford area, which "will specifically cover Stratford Town Centre, including the Magistrates' Court, the main transport hubs in Stratford and the areas along West Ham Lane commonly known as the West Quadrant".

Powers under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 to move on groups of people congregating in the zone began on 27 April, exactly three months before the Olympics opening ceremony. The police rather coyly add that at the end of the current period, they will "review the intelligence gathered and will consider making application to Newham Council for a three month extension", but it is pretty obvious that an extension will happen automatically. Coupled with confirmation that "local residents and businesses will also notice a marked increase in police patrols" supported by the Met's specialist public order unit CO20 (the Territorial Support Group) and Newham council enforcement officers, this is clearly a clean-up operation in advance of the summer's Games.

So what does a dispersal zone involve in practice? Section 30 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act says that police officer or Police Community Support Officer has the power to order a group of two or more people to leave the area and, if they don't live within it, to ban them from returning for up to 24 hours. Refusing to comply with an officer's direction or not following the rules of the dispersal order can lead to arrest and charge, with a conviction potentially leading to a maximum penalty of three months' imprisonment and/or a fine of £5000.

In addition, officers have 'curfew' powers: young people aged under 16 are effectively prohibited from public spaces within the dispersal zone overnight, from 9pm to 6am, unless they are accompanied by a parent or a responsible adult over 18 years of age. An officer has the power to remove anyone within this age group that they find during these hours to their place of residence, unless there are "reasonable grounds for believing that the person would, if removed to that place, be likely to suffer significant harm."

Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRT) has shown that dispersal orders can have an impact on levels of crime and anti-social behaviour within a designated zone, although they risk displacing crime to the immediately surrounding neighbourhoods. Dispersal powers do, however, tend to have the impact of stigmatising all young people as potential perpetrators of anti-social behaviour, although they are most likely to be its victims:

Dispersal orders potentially criminalise youthful behaviour on the basis of the anxieties that young people congregating in groups may generate among other people. As such, the power is potentially less concerned with the agency of individuals than the assumptions that are made about what they might do.

For many, meeting friends and peers in local public spaces constitutes a fundamental aspect of developing their sense of identity and control, as well as providing space in which to forge their independent capacity to manage risk and danger.

With the Olympics fast approaching, the underlying fear of young people from Newham scaring visitors and upsetting the drive for the 'perfect Games' does seem like the major motivation for creating a dispersal zone this early. It is as much about sending what JRT describes as a 'symbolic message' - mainly to stay away from public spaces in Stratford. The reality, though, is that this message is unlikely to succeed - many young (and not so young) people are are likely to head towards the area after 27 July, whether they have tickets for Olympic events or not, out of curiosity and excitement generated by the relentless publicity for the Games if nothing else.

However, when coupled with other stop & search and anti-terrorism powers and the huge number of police and private security around Newham over the summer, the dispersal zone is clearly seen by the Met as an important element in the expected lockdown of Stratford for the duration of the Olympics - one that could lead many young people to unexpectedly find themselves in court if they don't fully understand their rights.

CPS decision to prosecute Newham officer: “I hope now to see justice” - Mauro Demetrio

2012-04-17T14:46:00.003+01:00

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have announced their intention to prosecute PC Alex MacFarlane, who was recorded allegedly saying “You’ll always be a nigger”, in the case raised by Mauro Demetrio of Newham.

The decision reverses an earlier announcement by the CPS that there would be no prosecution.

Mauro Demetrio said today

"I am relieved that some action is now being taken as the previous CPS decision left me feeling that racism was acceptable. I hope now to see justice"

Estelle du Boulay, a spokesperson for Newham Monitoring Project said today:

"We welcome the CPS announcement to bring a charge of a racially aggravated public order offence against PC Alex MacFarlane in the case of Mauro Demetrio. The CPS has a duty to take action at the earliest opportunity against alleged perpetrators of racist crime, whether they are police officers or anyone else in society. We hope the change of decision today reflects an improvement in practice in how the CPS consider future cases as well as sending out a message that racism will not be tolerated at any level.

All too often the real experience of black Londoners seems to be that it is one law for them and another for the police. It is rare to see prosecutions against the police and even rarer for them to result in an officer being found guilty or punished. Today's decision is a step in the right direction but ultimately it is the long-term outcome in this case that matters to the public in terms of seeing justice done or marking a concrete change to how racism and abuse of power are dealt with."

Mauro Demetrio’s lawyer, Michael Oswald issued the following statement:

"We welcome the decision of the CPS to instigate a criminal prosecution of PC Alex McFarlane of Forest Gate Police Station arising out of his conduct towards Mr Mauro Demetrio on 11 August 2011.

We regret that it required Mr Demetrio to challenge their initial refusal to prosecute before the CPS was able and willing to recognise the patently flawed nature of that original decision. However, now that they have belatedly chosen to do the right thing, we – like Mr Demetrio himself – look to the CPS to do their job properly in the conduct of the prosecution of PC McFarlane all the way through to the trial. In the process, we hope that justice may be seen to be done, so that some semblance of confidence in the criminal justice system may yet be salvaged for Mr Demetrio and those many others who tend to find themselves in his position.

Mr Demetrio’s efforts have helped to shine a light on a pattern of failures within the CPS in their handling of cases where complaints against police. In that light, we call upon the CPS and the DPP to initiate two inquiries:

First, an inquiry into the circumstances – including apparent failures of supervision and quality control – in which the original reviewing lawyer in this case was permitted to reach a decision which was so clearly and patently flawed, against the weight of all the evidence presented to him.

Secondly, and more generally, a more wide ranging inquiry into the handling of complaints against police within the CPS, to ensure that those tasked with the responsibility of upholding the rule of law and their decision making processes in relation to such complaints are fit for purpose."

Separately, Newham Monitoring Project are also calling on Metropolitan Police Commissioner Hogan-Howe to install CCTV cameras in the back of police vans in Newham before the start of the Olympics to respond to the damaged community trust arising from this case. Sign the petition here.

NMP calls for cameras to be installed in the back of police vans in Newham by the start of the Olympics

2012-04-13T13:53:00.001+01:00

Sign the petition here

Newham Monitoring Project has launched a public campaign to have CCTV cameras installed in the back of police vans in Newham in time for the start of the Olympics.

The campaign calls on individuals and organisations to support a wider demand for the Metropolitan Commissioner Hogan-Howe to install cameras in the back of all police vehicles, but specifies that at a minimum, a pilot needs to be in place in Newham before the start of the Olympics.

Mauro Demetrio, who faced racial comments and alleges that he was assaulted by police in the back of a van in Newham last summer, spoke of his experience and why he is supporting the call:

"I thought I was going to die in the back of the police van and can never forget the racism I experienced. I don't want this to happen to anyone else. We need cameras in the back of all vans."

A spokesperson for Newham Monitoring Project said

"Communities in Newham face a massive policing operation this summer. Trust in the police is extremely low after the recent flood of race allegations and we want to see a clear commitment from the Commissioner to have, as a minimum, a first set of cameras in place in vans in Newham before the Olympics"

A young black woman from Newham, aged 16, explained her thoughts on why she and her friends will be supporting the campaign:

"I agree that there should be cameras in the police vans because we now know that there are things that happen that the public are unaware of, also most people will take the words of the police over the words of a teenager, so to stop injustice there should be cameras especially since the Olympics are coming up and the amount of police roaming around will noticeably increase.

Newham Monitoring Project also issued a longer statement explaining the importance of the campaign:

"Thanks to the courage and quick-thinking of Mauro Demetrio, who managed to record racist insults by a police officer in the back of a police van in Newham, the Crown Prosecution Service has been forced to review its initial decision to take no action against any officer involved in his alleged ill-treatment.

What Mauro's experiences highlight are long-standing concerns about the potential risk posed to the personal safety of individual members of the public who are arrested and detained by the state. In the absence of robust systems of accountability, this risk is far greater when there is inadequate monitoring of such detention, especially inside a police vehicle.

Cameras to monitor citizens are now commonplace in almost every part of public life, but the same enthusiasm for their use has never been shown where they are most needed – in the back of police vans transporting detainees. CCTV in police vehicles would provide greater protection to potentially vulnerable members of the public and, equally, to police officers themselves: cameras would provide strong evidence in disputed cases of alleged misconduct.

Following the recent public outcry over Mauro Demetrio's treatment, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe indicated that he might consider support of the installation of CCTV cameras in police vans, although he has given no timeframe as to when this might be implemented.

Whilst we recognise that rolling out a nationwide scheme may take time and money, the Home Secretary must respond to public concerns and take action to rebuild public confidence at the earliest opportunity. Millions of pounds from the public purse have already been spent on preparing London for the Olympics, which includes increased levels of policing. We believe an essential part of this huge investment should be set aside to take reasonable steps to prevent potential abuses of civil liberties.

We call on the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to prioritise this issue and take steps now so that, as an absolute minimum, there is a pilot scheme of CCTV cameras in operation in police vans in the main Olympic host borough, Newham, by the start of the Olympics on July 27th 2012"

East London police officer taped in racist bullying - CPS refuse to prosecute

2012-03-31T09:17:00.003+01:00

Link to full article with transcribed audio in Guardian 30 March 2012

A 21 year old black male from Beckton, Newham has described how police officers assaulted and racially abused him in the back of a police van after being stopped by the police during last August's 'riots'.

With the aid of his mobile, the young man was able to make an audio recording of police officers' comments and later made an official complaint. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) eventually decided not to prosecute any officers directly involved, a decision we are now told is under review following the threat of a judicial review of that decision by the young man's legal representatives, Bhatt Murphy Solicitors.

The young man was initially stopped on 11 August 2011 on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs, however the police could produce no evidence of this and charges were later dropped.

The young man has stated he feared for his life whilst in the police van and that on top of physical assault came racist remarks, sexually degrading comments about his mother and a prediction that he would be dead in five years.

"The problem with you is that you'll always be a nigger. That's your problem. Yeah. That's your problem."

"You'll always have black skin colour. Yeah. Don't hide behind your colour. yeah?"

"Don't hide behind your black skin."

PC MacFarlane has admitted to making comments recorded on the audio device and has been suspended pending investigation. Another officer is heard admitting that he strangled the young man.

Other officers have denied assaulting the young man and have denied hearing any abuse.

A spokesperson for Newham Monitoring Project, who are supporting the man said:

"After years of re-branding its poor reputation on racial equality, the culture of racism within the Metropolitan police is still deeply embedded. Sadly, the shocking treatment of this young man at the hands of police officers, in terms of both the physical brutality and racial abuse he describes, are by no means unusual and illustrative of other reports we have received.

The CPS’ refusal to prosecute individual officers, where such damning evidence of racism exists, is inexcusable. It is hard to think of what stronger proof could be provided and their failure to take action re-enforces the view that the police are still largely above the law.

With 12000 police officers based in Newham this summer for the Olympics, the borough’s black communities face the prospect of a regime of repressive policing. East London was awarded the Olympic Games in part, on the strength of its extraordinary diversity but it is policing of the kind seen in this case that can quickly ignite into something much wider. The police continue to make laudable claims of learning the lessons from last August’s events, but the evidence says otherwise.

Meaningful accountability to the community is essential in robustly dealing with unacceptable behaviour and placing cameras in the back of police vans would be a helpful start. Without changes of this kind, the public currently have no option but to take the risk of recording the police themselves. It's rare to capture and preserve evidence of this kind, it is highly risky and we commend the young man’s quick thinking and courage."

Benjamin Zephaniah - Put the Number in Your Phone!

2012-03-14T08:03:00.004Z

Poet, writer and patron of Newham Monitoring Project Benjamin Zephaniah explains why it is important for young people in east London to know their rights on stop & search, especially during the 2012 Olympics.

That means carrying NMP's 24-hour emergency helpline number at all times - so go on, put the number [0800 169 3111] in your phone!

Publicity for our helpline during the Olympics is one part of our response to this summer's Games, when we aim to ensure that local people are aware of their civil liberties and have a way of seeking redress if they believe their rights have been ignored. We are also offering a basic rights information card, legal workshops for youth and community groups and, for the first time, trained Community Legal Observers near to event venues.

If you are interested in volunteering for NMP over the Olympic period, either as a Community Legal Observer or to help promote civil liberties in east London in other ways, please contact us.

NMP Speaking at 'This is England' Panel

2012-02-15T10:59:00.001Z

NMP will be speaking at the aftershow panel for a screening of Shane meadow's excellent film 'This is England' showing at:

The Film Hub
12 Balham Station Road,
London SW12 9SG

on Sunday 19th February.

For those who haven't seen the film, it tells the story of a troubled boy growing up in England in 1983 who becomes friends with a group of skinheads after a fight on his way home from school,

Please visit The Film Hub's website for ticket details.

'Hate Crime and Institutional Racism: What's Changed?'

2012-02-12T10:45:00.001Z

NMP will be speaking at a Campus Hub event organised by the Coexistence Trust on 'Hate Crime and Institutional Discrimination: What's Changed? on Thursday 16 February at the University of London Union.

Zareena Mustafa from NMP will join a panel that also includes Dr Richard Stone OBE (a panel member on the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry), Dr Edie Freidman (Executive Director of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality) and Rokhsana Fiaz, Executive Director of the Coexistence Trust, who will be chairing the discussion.

For more information see the event's Facebook Page.

Nineteen Years Fighting For Justice

2012-02-05T16:00:00.002Z

This article appears in the current issue of Labour Briefing

Estelle du Boulay and Kevin Blowe, Newham Monitoring Project, ask if anything has changed in the way police relate to black and Asian people following the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence nearly two decades ago.

“The police can do their job properly, but only if they want to.” In an overtly angry, political and pointed statement by Doreen Lawrence outside court on the day Gary Dobson and David Norris were convicted for the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, the public were reminded how far society remains from being just and fair for all its citizens.

Relief at the verdict came, after all, with the knowledge that the police had the names of the five suspects within 24 hours of Stephen’s murder and that a successful prosecution could have happened years ago if police racism hadn’t resulted in the original investigation being handled so disastrously. As a result of the botched investigation, Doreen and Neville devoted a significant part of their lives to fighting for justice.

In 1999, the Lawrence Inquiry concluded the investigation into Stephen’s death “was marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership by senior officers.” In the hope of shifting the ingrained culture within institutions, it laid down a series of recommendations to address racism from the most senior level down to the front line.

The post-Lawrence vision appeared radical and wide-ranging in relation to the conduct of policing on the streets, a source of acute tension particularly felt by black communities: it advocated building greater trust and dialogue between communities and the police through increased accountability and transparency, with stop and search used appropriately and applied proportionately.

Ten years later, when reviewing the impact which attempts to implement the Lawrence recommendations had made, Dr. Richard Stone, one of the original Inquiry panel, sadly reflected that the changes “had made little impact on reducing black, white and increasingly Asian disparities in stop and search.”

Despite the replacement of the widely-criticised Police Complaints Authority with a new Independent Police Complaints Commission, the introduction of receipts for stops and community monitoring panels to scrutinise stop and search, their impact seems to have been little more than bearing witness to the operation of a system that remained unfair and discriminatory.

Despite the scrapping of Section 44 powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 (which heavily targeted Asian people), Asians remain twice as likely to be stopped as white people under another police power, Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. Figures suggest black people are up to 26 times more likely to be stopped than their white counterparts under Section 60 stops, which require no reasonable suspicion and are therefore susceptible to racial profiling.

A significant barrier to the success of the Lawrence recommendations has been the shifting face of state racism that it was trying to regulate. As early as 2001, the Institute of Race Relations was highlighting the alarming trend in the media of attacking asylum seekers and refugees and tracking the growth in racial violence cases that followed. Post 9/11 and the London bombings of 2005, the scapegoat for societal anger became Muslims, more recently shifting towards young people and gangs. Against this onslaught of criminalising different sections of society and the swathe of laws and powers it has produced, institutional racism has been able to regroup and strengthen. The ground under the feet of the original Lawrence recommendations has changed so rapidly that it has been easy for them to be pushed aside or undercut.

An insight into how this takes root at street level can be viewed through the monitoring by NMP of local stop and search operations at Tube stations across east London over the past ten years. Around 2004 it became routine to witness joint operations between the Metropolitan Police, British Transport police and immigration officers primarily targeting “illegal immigrants”. After 2005 and the London bombings these operations were commonly based around Section 44, heavily targeting Asians. In recent years we have seen a proliferation of Section 60 operations, with knife arches targeting a particular profile (by admission of officers at the scene) of young people.

It is too simplistic to say these operations provide effective remedies for existing trends in crime at the time. Stop and search remains largely ineffectual in relation to the crimes it purportedly targets – this has always been borne out by its related arrest and prosecution rates. The societal impact of operations such as these is to normalise a set of ideas and values that are the agenda of those who hold the power in society and strengthen their ability to extend them further and further. Until public pressure effectively refuses the foundations on which institutional structures operate as well as their manifestations, systems of state sanctioned accountability will do little more than pay lip-service to an ideal of the public regulating those at the top.

The most important legacy, therefore, from the Lawrence Inquiry seems to be not the recommendations it made but the lessons it taught us: that complacency breeds complicity and nothing will be gained without a fight. Not only do we owe it to the grieving family of Stephen Lawrence to continue this battle, but it is our only chance of creating lasting and progressive change.

NMP now on Twitter and Facebook

2012-01-08T12:34:00.006Z

Newham Monitoring Project can now be found on Twitter at @NMPEastLondon. Please follow us for regular updates on NMP's work.

The project also has a new Facebook Page here.

Update On ‘Save Our Language Papers’ Campaign

2012-01-03T12:35:00.001Z

By the end of December, a petition against the withdrawal of community language newspapers in Newham’s libraries has collected 1190 signatures from local people.

The ‘Save our Language papers’ Campaign began in June 2011, following complaints to the EKTA Project and NMP from local residents argued that the removal of non-English newspapers was discriminatory.

Newham council subsequently confirmed that it took the that the decision to remove the community language papers in April 2011 because it believes their provision created a barrier to residents learning English and integrating fully into the community.

To challenge this, the campaign launched a petition and following an initial meeting it managed to secure the endorsement of 12 local community groups.

The campaign’s supporters agreed that:

The decision should be challenged as there had been no consultation around the impact this would have on the community
The assumption reading language papers created a barrier to learning or speaking English was discriminatory and flawed
The assumption around accessing language provision at libraries prevents resident from integrating and participating in their community.

It was decided that the best way forward was to launch a petition to capture theses concerns and ensure that residents had a process to challenge the decision.

The aim of the petition is to:

Reinstate community-language newspapers in Newham's libraries.
Prioritise funding and further resources to provision of English as a Second Language (ESOL).
To commit to the continued provision of community-language books and audio books in Newham's libraries.
To recognise and celebrate the unique diversity of the London Borough of Newham including recognition of the languages and cultures of its individual communities.

The paper petition can be downloaded from:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/57148540/Community-Newspapers-Petition

Or you can sign online at:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-our-language-papers.html

How State Racism Divides Multicultural Britain

2011-02-22T11:24:00.000Z

This article by Estelle du Boulay and Prity Patel-Bedia appears in the February 2011 edition of Labour Briefing

David Cameron’s recent attack on ‘the doctrine of state multiculturalism’ for cultivating separatism and with it ‘domestic Islamic extremism’ fails to recognise that state racism – the race and class inequalities indivisible from state power – engineers the division of communities in British society.

Multiculturalism does not render itself to any easy definition. Original proponents of multiculturalism described ideals of respect and growth leading to greater equality. In its simplest form it is the co-existence of diverse cultures together in unity; however this is meaningless without the state accepting that ‘unity’ cannot be achieved without addressing dominant culture and power structures.

Multiculturalism has fallen short by never moving beyond 'culture' and into an understanding and challenging of institutional racism. It was a state response to campaigns against racist attacks, police harassment, and discrimination in housing, entertainment centres, and employment. Put simply, racist police officers who abuse their authority will stop doing so, not when they ‘understand black people better’, but when black people have an effective way to bring such officers before an impartial court to account for their actions.

The failure to deal with these root issues forms the basis for the criticism multiculturalism draws from across the political spectrum today. The limitations of the concept leave it open to hijacking by those who seek to blame individual ethnic, religious and cultural communities, most notably attacking Muslims, for a failure to integrate rather than identifying the institutional barriers to integration that prevented multiculturalism from succeeding.

In recent years there has been a consistent attack from the state on spaces catering for specific ‘identity’ groups - such as minority faith schools, places of worship and even autonomous women’s organisations - for encouraging non-inclusivity and intolerance of others. This simplistic approach does not get to the heart of the most widespread exclusions in British society: inequality of provision and access to decent housing, education, healthcare and employment affecting the working classes from all backgrounds. Without a shared a collective struggle, it is these divisions and the subsequent fight over available resources that pitches one community against another and ignites inter-community conflict and racism.

It is equally disingenuous for any government to argue that multiculturalism is responsible for tying its hands in relation to affording human rights, such as tackling forced marriage in Asian communities, for fear of being labelled racist or culturally insensitive. No sign of that same fear was visible when draconian anti-terrorism laws, such as control orders or the use of Section 44 stops without reasonable suspicion, were introduced and used so discriminately against black communities. If anything this highlights the value of autonomous organisations representing specific ethnic and cultural groups and positioned within a broader struggle for human rights, such as Newham Asian Women’s Project or Southall Black Sisters, who have been the drivers for progressive institutional change on issues such as forced marriage.

Under the cover of remedying multiculturalism’s shortcomings, the government has tasked itself with delivering a stronger vision of ‘British identity’. Any vision dictated by a government will provide no solution to excluded communities. For Cameron to conclude that a collective national identity should be forged over a collective tolerance of diverse cultures gives rise to a vision of assimilated peoples, homogenised into a ‘Stepford wives’ model.

Stemming from this debate and the financial implications it carries is the question of the ailing Preventing Violent Extremism agenda, already under review. Strides are afoot to further relocate the role of PVE within the Community Cohesion agenda. By diverting local authority funding from community projects to set PVE up, civil society has already been co-opted into providing surveillance over welfare and engraining divisive rhetoric at a community level. The outcome of this co-option is an absence of vocal critique to PVE. Without challenge, government can define an extremist threat as looming and pervasive, deepening alienation of black communities in the process.

The irony of Cameron’s speech coming on the day EDL marching through Luton was lost on few. By focusing public suspicion on Muslims an ever more dangerous alignment and legitimisation between mainstream and far-right agendas occurs. This persistent scapegoating by the state of one section of society must be met by a concerted resistance from diverse but united communities. Multiculturalism may not provide such a platform, but a movement that focuses on fundamental human rights and social justice, precisely because it is founded on collective strength, does.

This need for struggle is powerfully summarised by Ambalavaner Sivanandan in his 2005 essay ‘Race, Terror and Civil Society’: “Anti-racism is the element that infuses politics into multiculturalism and makes it dynamic and progressive… Resistance to, or struggle against, racism engenders a more just society, enlarges the democratic remit and provides the dynamics of integration that leads to a pluralistic society.”

Estelle du Boulay and Prity Patel-Bedia work for the community based anti-racist and civil liberty organisation Newham Monitoring Project.

The Realities of Stop & Search

2009-12-01T08:14:00.003Z

This article by Estelle du Boulay appears issue 33 of Agenda, the magazine of Race on the Agenda (ROTA)

For a period of about twenty-four hours after the release of the Home Secretary’s report on the ‘Tackling Knives Action Programme’ in December 2008, the police tactic of using stop and search as an effective means of catching criminals seemed to finally to shaken off the controversy that has clung to it since criticism by the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry in 1998. Stop-and-search works, the government said. But within a day of ministers claiming a victory in its fight against a weapons-culture amongst young people, accusations were mounting of manipulation of the statistics. If stop and search is genuinely effective, critics asked, why spin the evidence? Where were the real figures to back it up the claims for its use?

However, whilst the answer may be important, not least to address concerns that too often statistics are used to justify policy rather than drive decision-making, allowing the dominant dialogue on stop and search to focus primarily on statistics diverts attention from the root problems that this police tactic presents at a community level; around issues of race discrimination and effectively combating crime.

Black communities have always suffered the brunt of police stop and search powers; from the days of the hated Sus laws - widely condemned for being used to racially profile – to the barely shifting statistic, highlighted recently by Doreen Lawrence on the 10 year anniversary of the Lawrence Inquiry Report: "There has been no long term drop in stop and search within the black community - today black people are seven times more likely to be searched - this is not progress." The cost of this is permanent tension between black communities and the police, with generations growing up accustomed to being the target of criminalisation and poor treatment. The conclusions of the Metropolitan Police Association Youth Scrutiny (2008) are hardly surprising in highlighting that initial negative experiences with police are formative in defining later attitudes towards police and authorities, an area that must be addressed.

Stop & Search - Effectiveness

The effectiveness of tackling crime through arbitrary stop and search compared to using intelligence-led policing is subject to much criticism. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 requires an officer to have ‘reasonable suspicion’ before stopping someone, the test being that any given person in the same circumstances could objectively have the same suspicion. This definition, designed to give the term some foundation beyond just being a mere hunch, is supposed to protect citizens and aide officers by providing clear boundaries. It follows a school of thought that without the power to act on suspicion, the ability of the police to investigate and solve crime would be severely marginalised. However, one need look no further than the tragic case of Jean Charles de Menezes to understand the inherent minefield of problems in defining ‘suspicious behaviour’; the innocent actions of Mr Menezes in boarding, then alighting, from a bus and using a mobile phone outside a tube station were the acts cited as suspicious during the surveillance operation that eventually resulted in him being shot dead. This grey area is also borne out by conviction statistics related to stop and search that rarely relate to the grounds for suspicion under which the stop originally occurred.

Accountability

Despite these systemic flaws, recommendation 66 of the Lawrence Inquiry (implemented in 2004) sought to at least to bring about police accountability for stops through the introduction of detailed receipts. Whilst receipts are a step in the right direction, determining whether a person’s behaviour can been described as suspicious, for instance ‘Mr X smelt of cannabis’, is notoriously difficult to either prove or dispute after the event and often comes down to a case of one person’s word against another. In the event of an arrest and a case going to Magistrates court, where typically several uniformed officers are giving evidence against a defendant, the weight of trust appears to be given routinely to the account of the officers. Against these odds, the average person is not only disadvantaged in any challenge of a police account but also likely to be discouraged from even raising it in the first place. Sadly, it is our experience at NMP that this is one of the primary reasons why people will refuse a receipt even when offered – they question the value of collecting a piece of paper recording what they felt was as an unfair stop when they perceive ‘the system’ as unable to provide them with any chance of redress.

Despite the fundamental problems around ‘reasonable suspicion’, being stopped and searched under PACE, with its minimal accountability, is now a better option compared to what has followed in recent years. Stops under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 require no reasonable suspicion and unsurprisingly have yet to result in a single person being charged with a terrorism-related offence. Section 60 of the Crime Justice and Public Order Act 1994, the legislation being used to tackle knife crime, allows stops to be carried out on anyone who happens to be in a designated area such as a tube station, is drawing comparisons to Sus laws in both its application and resentment it is causing in black communities.

Worrying developments to come are street policing measures during the 2012 Olympics in east London. During his time as Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner, Tarique Ghaffur was quoted as raising the prospect of armed US and Israeli police officers patrolling the streets of London during the Games.

Complaints

The reality is that it is very difficult to succeed in any complaint against a police officer. Lawrence Barker of the Police Action Lawyers Group states “IPCC statistics tell us that just 5% of complaints against the MPS that concluded last year were upheld. Despite significant concerns with the present system, the IPCC is seeking to reduce its supervisory involvement in the complaints process.” The recent case of comedian Mark Thomas, who successfully challenged the legality of a search because the grounds for suspicion were stated on his receipt as ‘looking over confident’, does little to inspire confidence even when a complaint is upheld. The action taken against the officer in his case was ‘words of advice’. This hardly sends out a message of discouragement to police who abuse their powers either unwittingly or otherwise.

Penalty Notices

A new trend affecting the territory of street stops and police complaints is the apparent increase in the issuing of Public Order Section 5 Penalty Notices. These on-the-spot penalty fines are commonly served on a person by an officer for ‘causing harassment, alarm or distress’ in a situation where there has been an altercation with the police. Challenging a penalty notice at a Magistrates court is seen as risky as it is likely to come down to one person’s word against another and the cost of losing can be a criminal record and an increased fine. The alternative is to accept the notice and pay the fine, which despite not resulting in a criminal record, is still perceived as an admission of guilt. An individual wishing to complain about police misconduct has severely limited chances of success with a penalty notice for ‘harassment, alarm and distress’ against their name. A cynical view of this situation is that they provide a fait-accompli to any officer wishing to eliminate the chances of a complaint being upheld against them. NMP has seen a marked increase in the issuing of these in the past two years and is currently working with a number of equally concerned law firms to investigate the usage of these.

Reality of experience

To truly understand stop and search it is vital to look at the real experience of people. At NMP we come into regular contact with a three strands of people from BME backgrounds who have experienced or are affected by stop and search: those who come to us directly for casework support to get advice or make a complaint (either the person themselves or a concerned friend or family member on their behalf); those we meet through community outreach work who share their experiences with us (for example participants in a training workshop from youth groups or refugee groups) and those we meet through randomly witnessing searches first-hand on the street (this is a personal choice that workers at NMP often take; to stay and observe a stop out of concern for the welfare of the person being stopped and to see if it is being carried out in accordance with the law). This allows our view to be informed by a broad spread of experiences, not only the ‘worst cases’ as might be expected from a monitoring organisation. Despite the differing circumstances in which we meet people and their differing attitudes towards the police as an institution, we find that perceptions and experiences of stop and search are almost entirely negative.

Firstly, from our own casework, experiences of police stops are often brutal. If we had received only one case of a person reporting being jumped from behind by either uniformed or plain clothes officers with no warning, this would be one too many. Unfortunately, the figure is higher. Sadly, reports of being taunted with racist jibes, pinned to the ground, beaten up and dragged across the pavement are not unusual. For NMP, a statistic that would be of real value would be the number of people who start out being randomly stopped by the police and end up either being treated in custody by a police doctor. Statistics for this however, are not available.

Secondly, from our community outreach work, the overwhelming impression we gain is disillusionment and distrust with police due to a sense of utter powerlessness felt in relation to stop and search. This is the greatest own goal in terms of police community relations, because a truly committed and effective approach to tackling crime relies on the trust, engagement and co-operation of these communities, who instead are alienated and feel targeted.

Thirdly, from stops witnessed on the street, these are too few (between 10 and 20) to confidently draw any conclusion of a ‘collective experience’, but a personal impression is that the dialogue during a stop plays great significance in how the situation develops and in shaping perceptions afterwards. Questions asked during a search, e.g: do you have a criminal record, carry the implication that they must be answered, even though they don’t and the language around acknowledging the right to a receipt, if it is offered at all, is often discouraging.

Fundamentally, there is still no evidence that randomly stopping and searching individuals has any impact on the crimes that worry BME communities and young people in particular. Knife crime and the perception that violence involving weapons is endemic are both increasing. Worse still, the moral panic about these issues have engendered have not led to a shift in the tactics used by the police – instead, police officers are encouraged to keep on stopping a growing number of people on the basis of that old excuse, ‘those who are innocent have nothing to fear’. Little consideration, beyond token concerns by bodies like the Metropolitan Police Authority, seems to be given to the long term impact of alienating large numbers of entirely law-abiding citizens who feel they are targeted due to their race, religious appearance or ethnicity.

Legal observer training day

2009-06-12T15:14:00.000+01:00

If you are interested in becoming a legal observer, the Legal Defence Monitoring Group are running a training day on Sunday June 14 from 11am at St Ethelburga's Centre, 78 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AG. We will be hosting a discussion after the training to talk about further campaigns and practical strategies.

Check their website http://www.ldmg.org.uk/ for more details

G20 protests in Newham

2009-03-26T15:57:00.000Z

Protests against the G20 (Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors) will be happening across the city of London (April 1st) and in Newham on Thursday 2nd April around the Excel Centre in Canning Town.

Areas in Newham will be subject to heightened policing over this period affecting both protestors and residents. NMP is concerned about any potentially negative impact on the local community and infringement of rights of individuals in relation to policing during this time. We can be contacted for emergency advice, legal referrals and support on our 24 hour helpline on 0800 169 3111.

Information about the protests can be found here:

http://climatecamp.org.uk/home
http://www.g-20meltdown.org/index.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/03/425026.html

If you are planning to attend the G20 protests, information on your legal rights can be found here.

Newham Police have put out information warning of the impact on Newham residents.

If you are interested in participating in legal observation for the G20 events on 1/2 April, Climate Camp is offering training:

Tuesday 31st March
7pm at London Action Resource Centre (LARC)
62 Fieldgate St (corner of Parfett St)
Whitechapel, London E1 1ES.

The training will top up people's knowledge and work through some of the logistics. The details are here.

Any queries email legal@climatecamp.org.uk or call 07973 186549

NMP Event: Tariq Ali - Thursday 2nd October

2008-09-29T17:57:00.000+01:00

Newham Bookshop, in conjunction with Newham Monitoring Project and Stratford Circus, welcomes the author and activist Tariq Ali, who will be reading from his new book "The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power".

Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world. It is the only Islamic state to have nuclear weapons. Its border with Afghanistan extends over one thousand miles and is the likely hideout of Osama bin Laden. It has been under military dictatorship for thirty-three of its fifty year existence. Yet it is the linchpin in the United States' war on terror, receiving over $10 billion of American aid since 2001 and purchasing more than $5 billion of U.S. weaponry in 2006 alone.

These days, relations between the two countries are never less than tense. Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf reported that U.S. deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage threatened to "bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age" if it did not commit fully to the alliance in the wake of 9/11. Presidential hopeful Barack Obama said he would have no hesitation in bombing Al Qaeda inside the country, "with or without" approval of the Pakistani government. Recent surveys show that more than 70 percent of Pakistanis fear the United States as a military threat to their country.

The Bush administration spent much of 2007 promoting a "dream ticket" of Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto to run Pakistan together. That strategy, with Bhutto assassinated and the general's party winning less than 15 percent of the contested seats in the 2008 election, is now in tatters.

With increasingly bold attacks by Taliban supporters in the border regions threatening to split the Pakistan army, with the only political alternatives -- Nawaz Sharif and Benazir's widower Asif Ali Zardari -- being as corrupt as the regime they seek to replace, and with a newly radicalised movement of lawyers testing its strength as champions of the rule of law, the chances of sustained stability in Pakistan look slim.

Tariq Ali has long been acknowledged as a leading commentator on Pakistan. In his new book he combines deep understanding of the country's history with extensive first-hand research and unsparing political judgement to weigh the prospects of those contending for power today. The labyrinthine path between a secure world and global conflagration runs right through Pakistan. No one is better placed to trace its contours.

Tariq Ali is a novelist, historian, political campaigner and one of New Left Review’s editors. His previous books include "Rough Music", "The Clash of Fundamentalisms" and "Street-Fighting Years: An Autobiography of the Sixties".

The evening will be chaired by Arun Kundnani, author of "The End of Tolerance: Racism in 21st Century Britain" and deputy editor of the journal 'Race & Class'.

TICKETS: £5 from Stratford Circus booking line: 020 8279 1015

Thursday 2nd October 2008
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Stratford Circus
Theatre Square E15 1BX

Three Years, No Justice - Menezes Commemorative Events on 22nd July 2008

2008-07-15T15:41:00.000+01:00

Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead on 22nd July 2005 at Stockwell tube station during a pre-planned police anti-terror operation. Not a single police officer has faced any disciplinary action for the killing. This is despite a jury at the Old Bailey finding the Office of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan police guilty of 'catastrophic errors' at the health and safety trial in October last year.

Three years on, his family continue to tirelessly campaigning to find out all the circumstances into how Jean died and for justice and accountability.

Please join the family to mark the 3rd anniversary of his death on the 22nd July 2008 by attending one of the following events:

At 9.45am a vigil outside Stockwell tube station to mark the exact moment Jean Charles was killed.

At 1.30pm to unveil a sculpture of the Brazilian flag made from flowers at Old Palace Yard, W1, next to Parliament Square. The sculpture will bear with the words 'Menezes - 3 years No Justice' written across it. The centre of the sculpture will be made up of 1093 flowers - one flower for every day which has passed since Jean died. Special guests will be announced later this week that will be joining the family to place the final few flowers into the centre of the sculpture on the day.

Old Palace Yard can be found here.

If you can only make one event we encourage people to come to the lunchtime event in parliament.

For further information please contact justice4jean@gmail.com or 07931337890 or 07709656251

Statement from family of Adnan Patel

2008-07-11T20:57:00.000+01:00

Yesterday afternoon, Thursday 10th July 2008, Hafiz Adnan Patel, aged 20, from Stratford, London, died in Leyton, East London. He died of injuries caused by a knife attack.

Police enquiries are currently ongoing in relation to this matter and the family are awaiting news on any developments.

A member of the Patel family made this statement tonight:

“We beg you, please allow us to grieve in peace at this time of sorrow and sadness. We have lost a loved one and at this time we ask that you pray for him so that he may rest in peace and that the family are given courage and strength during this difficult period.

Any person who has information in relation to this matter please tell the police or contact Newham Monitoring Project. We do not want anyone else having to experience the pain and sorrow that we are currently going through. We beg you that if you have any information about what happened to our beautiful Adnan, then please come forward”

A further statement will be issued by the family in the next few days.

If you require any further information please contact the Newham Monitoring Project on 0800 169 3111 or the Police Incident Room on 020 8345 3865.

ENDS

Notes for Press/Editors

For more information, please contact NMP on 07709 656 251 / 020 8470 8333 – Press: please use these alternative numbers rather than our 0800 emergency helpline.
Newham Monitoring Project is an independent community organisation based in east London working with the BME community around issues of civil injustice for over 25 years.

Mayor’s commitment to increased Stop & Search is ‘ill-considered and gung-ho’

2008-05-15T10:19:00.001+01:00

Boris Johnson’s support of plans to increase police stop and search powers is “ill-considered and gung-ho” according to east London anti-racist organisation Newham Monitoring Project (NMP).

Whilst NMP welcomes GLA commitment to finding new ways to address gun and knife crime, it questions why the Mayor is not seeking to address the continued failure of controversial stop and search powers to effectively tackle crime.

A spokesperson for NMP today said:

“If Boris Johnson wishes to address gun and knife crime, he needs to first carefully examine why current police powers, which are some of the toughest in Europe, are failing to deal with this issue effectively. If the police do not have to apply reasonable suspicion, what grounds they will use to determine who they stop and search? Selecting individuals based on appearance and ethnicity is fundamentally flawed, will criminalise and alienate communities and is ultimately likely to fail like the hated Sus laws that were abolished in the 1980’s.

If the Mayor wishes to honour his election pledges he must not rush to try and impress voters in his first few weeks with an attempt at quick fix solutions and must address the underlying problems of community tensions with the police, particularly around racial profiling.

Black people continue to be 7 times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched and Asians twice as likely.* Statistics relating to prosecutions from stop and search continually demonstrate it is not an effective tool in tackling crime, particularly compared to intelligence-based policing. There is no evidence that extending these powers will make any positive difference or that the wider public will be any safer.

Our experience of working with young people over the past 25 years is that if you are a young black male you are likely to find yourself repeatedly stopped by the police when you are simply going about your day. Many of the people we talk to have been stopped in excess 20 times without any real justification and it has not led to any charges or prosecutions; surely this is hours of wasted police time. We have always argued that intelligence-based policing alongside real dialogue and engagement with communities is the best approach to building trust and addressing complex issues, whether that be gun and knife crime or tackling terrorism. We call on the Mayor to demonstrate his commitment to tackling crime by meeting with us and the local youth and community groups we work with to discuss and learn about the real experience and suggestions of Londoners in relation to this issue.”

* Stop and search figures from Ministry of Justice Data for 2006, released Oct 2007.

Notes for Editors:

Newham Monitoring Project, established in 1980, is an independent community-based organisation which supports people experiencing racial harassment and /or discrimination from statutory organisations. It is a leading campaigning voice around issues of racism/policing, best known for its work with the families of Stephen Lawrence, Jean Charles de Menezes and the Forest Gate terror-raid families.

Casework Report 2007-2008

2008-04-07T12:35:00.004+01:00

Overview

In the year April 2007 – March 2008, NMP dealt with approximately 142 cases;

We made 34 referrals to external organisations;

Almost all of our casework requires NMP intervention with statutory organisations (ie: Police, Council, Housing);

The majority of our cases require the assistance of a lawyer;

Nearly half of all our cases come in through the Emergency Service Helpline;

The majority of our cases involve policing issues and over the past year we have seen a rise in cases associated with 'gang related violence' and house raids;

NMP's main role in supporting cases continues to be repeated contact and pressure towards statutory agencies to respond appropriately, conduct a thorough investigation and to deliver a fair, speedy and effective outcome.

Policing and criminal justice system;

Dealing with racist incidents (including verbal/written abuse, physical abuse, criminal damage and other racist incidents);

Local authorities;

Housing;

Education (including admissions, exclusions, assessment & harassment).

Level of assistance provided

NMP provides people with assistance in seeking a fair and satisfactory outcome through:

• Information, advice & representation to people regarding issues of discrimination, dissatisfactory & unfair treatment from statutory bodies where they feel race is a factor;

Making complaints against the police and other statutory bodies and appeals against complaint outcome decisions;

Assisting people in bringing perpetrators of race-hate crime to court through representations to the police and / or other statutory agencies involved.

NMP has the Community Legal Service Quality Mark (General Help with Casework) for its casework service.

Casework Areas - Background and concerns

Race Hate Crime / Racial Harassment

Main areas of concern for NMP arising from our casework in 2007/8

No dedicated Racial Harassment officer in council housing departments ie: specialist support not available to victims;

Lack of support or options available for individuals / families who either cannot name perpetrators or do not wish to name them for fear of reprisal;

Where a family is successfully moved into temporary accommodation, time taken to process case in order to move them into new permanent / return to previous accommodation;

Difficulties for NMP / public obtaining relevant policies from councils regarding their policies and procedures on taking perpetrator action / targeting racial harassment;

Lack of accessible information available to public on perpetrator action taken;

From statistical information available, lack of perpetrator action actually taken by councils against perpetrators of Racial Harassment;

Effectiveness of multi-agency work between the police, council and anti-social behaviour units, in particular lines of accountability and timescales.

Stop & Search

Background

Stop & Search figures for the Metropolitan Police Area under PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act) have risen by more than 18% from the previous year to 280,735 in 2005-6. As with previous years black and minority ethnic people accounted for more than half of the incidents - 101,679 black people and 33,870 Asians (plus 8,846 of other ethnicities). In London, Black and Asian communities represent less than 29% of the overall population [Census 2001 information; and Ministry of Justice report, Statistics on Race and Criminal Justice System 2006 (for England and Wales)];

Nationally the figures for 2005–6 reveal the highest levels of stop and search incidents since 1998-9. Black people are now 7 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, compared with 6 times more likely in 2004-5. The overall rise in stop and searches is being partly driven by a disproportionate targeting of BME communities. This picture is backed up locally by our casework. [Ministry of Justice report, Statistics on Race and Criminal Justice System 2006 (for England and Wales)];

Since the London Bombings, stop and searches under Section 44 of the Anti-terrorism 2000 Act have increased by 34% to 44,543, disproportionately affecting black and minority ethnic populations, who accounted for 39% of the incidents. The increase has particularly targeted Asian communities with the number of Asians stopped in 2005-6 up by 84% from the previous year, compared to an increase of 51% for black people and 24% for whites. Over half of these searches took place in the Metropolitan Police area and 15% in the City of London area. The number of pedestrians stopped under Section 44 nearly doubled from the previous year to 19,064. Of these, only 59 arrests related to terrorism were finally made, with no conviction rate available. [Ministry of Justice report, Statistics on Race and Criminal Justice System 2006 (for England and Wales)];

British Transport Police figures of stops and searches under anti-terrorism laws from July 7th 2005 to August 10th 2005 show 6,747 stops of which the majority were in London. Of these 2,390 were of Asians. [source: Guardian]

Main areas of concern for NMP arising from our casework in 2007/8

Proposals to remove the receipts system for Stop & Search. This was a key mechanism to create accountability arising form the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry;

Proposals to increase Stop & Search to target gun & knife crime whilst statistical evidence available does not suggest it is an effective tool in comparison to intelligence-based policing;

Impact on youth of repeated Stop & Search incidents;

Injuries sustained by individuals under use of 'reasonable force' during arrest;

Treatment of individuals under arrest during transportation to police station in police vehicles / holding pens outside the police station;

Whether receipts for Stops & Searches are routinely being issued on the spot;

The use of PCSO’s (Police Community Support Officers) to formally 'stop' people;

That 'reasonable grounds' given by police for conducting Stops & Searches often translates for our cases to having just been the 'wrong person' in any given area at any time.

Policing - broader issues

The majority of NMP's cases involve policing issues.

Main areas of concern for NMP arising from our casework in 2007/8

The issuing of Section 5 Public Order Offences to individuals – we have seen a sharp increase in people being given these following a minor altercation with police. We are keen to monitor the issuing of these through recording the experiences of people who have received one – please contact us if you would like to take part in this monitoring or require casework assistance in this area;

Arresting victims of racist crime rather than the perpetrator;

Level and quality of investigation of racial harassment cases;

Effectiveness of multi-agency work between the police and council departments;

Effectiveness of police complaints system including Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Anti-terror policing

Background

East London has been a focus for anti-terror raids over the past few years. This has caused much fear and tension locally which has been reported to NMP.

Main areas of concern for NMP arising from our casework in 2007/8

Targeting of Muslim communities;

Media coverage of raids, in particular naming individuals and revealing their own or family addresses;

We are concerned by many of the suggested legislative changes contained within the proposed Counter Terrorism Bill and are working alongside other organisations such as Inquest, Equality and Human Rights Commission and CAMPACC to challenge these.

House raids by Police

During 2007/8, NMP has seen an increase in cases experiencing raids on their homes, often repeatedly.

Main areas of concern for NMP arising from our casework in 2007/8

• The manner in which raids are being conducted. In particular the treatment of people when raids are being conducted involving the use of unnecessary force, verbal abuse and not adhering to other codes of police conduct;

The quality and scrutiny of 'intelligence' used to launch raids;

The effectiveness and role of Police Family Liaison officers in supporting families after anti-terrorism raids;

The extent of damage to properties during raids;

Lack of transparency, coherence or fairness within policies of police and council related to repairing properties adequately for occupants post-raid often leaving properties insecure. This aspect can be devastating to individuals;

Difficulties in obtaining items back from the police taken during a raid;

Leaks from police sources about raids and details of investigation, uncorroborated and incorrect ‘facts’ and lack of action taken against this by the Police.

Community Development Work

Intensive support to local Black Minority Ethnic / Refugee Community Organisations around building their capacity to respond effectively to reports of race-hate crime and policing issues

Over the past year NMP has jointly organised, with other local groups, 2 large community events held in East London (with over 300 participants attending altogether) aimed at raising awareness of individuals rights under anti-terror legislation;

Workshops with various local youth groups around policing and rights in relation to Stop & Search;

One-day participative-style workshop with young women students from BME backgrounds around rights, policing and accessing support. Excellent feedback received from the college. It has been agreed this will now be repeated yearly and additional sessions throughout the year are planned.

NMP Event: Robert Fisk launches 'The Age of the Warrior'

2008-03-13T17:54:00.000Z

The celebrated Independent correspondent is over from Lebanon and will be speaking in east London about his new book of selected writings.

This event is organised by Newham Bookshop and Newham Monitoring Project (NMP). It will be chaired by Asad Rehman, chair of NMP.

Robert will sign copies of his book after the event.

Tuesday 1st April 1 2008
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Stratford Circus
Theatre Square, E15 1BX
London

IMPORTANT! BOOK EARLY!

THIS EVENT IS LIKELY TO BE POPULAR AND TICKETS WILL SELL QUICKLY.

Tickets cost £5 and can be purchased from Newham Bookshop by calling 020 8552 9993.

YOU CAN ORDER TICKETS BY PHONE FOR COLLECTION ON THE NIGHT

Jarrett’s increased ‘Stop and Search’ would be a return to 'Sus' laws

2007-10-22T16:09:00.000+01:00

The suggestion to stop young people because they are most likely to be “victims of, and the perpetrators of, a lot of these [sic: gun & knife] crimes” would lead to racial profiling and in effect be the ‘the reintroduction of the hated 'sus' laws’, say east London anti-racism campaigners Newham Monitoring Project (NMP).

NMP believes the suggestions of Keith Jarrett, president of the National Black Police Association, run the risk of criminalising a new generation of young people and becoming a new focus of resentment.

A spokeperson for NMP today said:

"Black communities continue to experience disproportionate targeting under stop & search causing tension and distrust of the police. Jarrett should be suggesting ways to engage with black communities, rather than alienate them further, to really fight gun and knife crime.

The Lawrence Inquiry found 'the perception and experience of minority communities that discrimination is a major element in the stop and search problem is correct.' This led to the introduction of mechanisms for police accountability - through recording and issuing receipts - in order to try and prevent the random stopping of individuals without any justifiable basis, or based merely on appearance. Now under the guise of the 'fighting gun and knife crime’, the NBPA seems determined to turn back the clock.

Statistics relating to prosecutions from stop and search continually demonstrate it is not an effective tool in tackling crime, particularly compared to intelligence-based policing. There is no evidence that extending these powers will make any positive difference or that the wider public will be any safer."

Notes to Editors

For more information, contact Estelle at Newham Monitoring Project on 020 8470 8333/ 07709 656 251
NMP is a leading independent anti-racist organisation in east london providing support to people around issues of race-hate crime, police misconduct and civil injustice. Recent work of NMP's includes being the main organisation supporting the families involved in the Forest Gate Raids and supporting the family of Jean Charles de Menezes.

ES Newsletter - Sept 2007

2007-09-27T19:40:00.000+01:00

ES Update: We have held two training sessions, we have recruited 14 new volunteers joining the Emergency service.

ES training dates: The last ES training date we had was on Saturday 11th of August. It went exceptionally well, and signed up new volunteers for the ES training. The next ES training is on 20th October. To all old volunteers if you have been volunteering for more than two years, it is essential that you attend. This will help you refresh your skills and what you have learnt before in dealing with ES calls.

Campaigns: NMP is still continuing to actively support the campaign for justice of the family of Jean Charles de Menezes. The project was involved with the press conference on August 2nd. Where the family expressed how they felt on the progress of their campaign and the IPCC report.

Seminars: On 11th June we had a book event with Clive Stafford Smith. April 25th JOCELYN Hurndall presented a book called defy the stars in the memory of her son.

New NMP projects: A rights workshop on 10th September for Swahili speaking refugee community groups. Stop and search workshop for community groups.

General info about NMP: On 14th July, Gilly Mundy memorial event took place at the Rich Mix in Bethnal Green.

Becoming a Graphic Design Volunteer

2007-03-13T11:22:00.000Z

As a small community organisation we have limited funds. However, it is our aim to regularly produce a wide range of vital practical /educational and campaign information to distribute to the local community. Because of the nature of our work in responding to emergencies, this material is often needed very quickly.

If you have experience of designing leaflets / small booklets in a format ready to go to a professional printers and could spare us some time for free we would be extremely grateful. Unfortunately, we cannot provide either a computer or software for this – you would need to possess these already yourself. We would provide all the text / images and guidance of how we would like the information presented.

If you are interested, fill out our Volunteer Application form or contact us directly in the office to discuss it further.

Casework Report 2006-2007

2007-03-09T21:45:00.000Z

Overview

In the year April 2006 – March 2007, NMP dealt with approximately 187 cases;

We made 29 referrals to external organisations;

Almost all of our casework requires NMP intervention with statutory organisations (ie: Police, Council, Housing);

The majority of our cases require the assistance of a lawyer;

Nearly half of all our cases come in through the Emergency Service Helpline;

The majority of our cases involve policing issues and increasingly cases associated with Anti-Terrorism policing;

NMP’s main role in supporting cases continues to be repeated contact and pressure towards statutory agencies to respond appropriately, conduct a thorough investigation and to deliver a fair, speedy and effective outcome.

Who we work with (our client group)

East London has an extremely ethnically diverse population. NMP works predominantly in Newham, however our services extend to five other local boroughs: Waltham Forest, Hackney, Barking & Dagenham, Redbridge & Tower Hamlets.

In Newham alone, BME communities represent 61% of the local population with the white population being proportionally lower than anywhere else in the country. Whilst other boroughs with large BME communities, such as Tower Hamlets, have one dominant ethnic group, the largest BME groups from the total Newham population are Black African 13%, Indian 12% and Bangladeshi 8%. Newham is also home to a high Muslim population of 24.3%, the 2nd highest in the UK and has a high refugee and asylum seeker population. Newham also has a high proportion of young people with approximately 25% of the borough being under 20 years old. Newham has highest rate of youth poverty nationally and the second highest rate of unemployment [2001 Census information].

Casework Areas

Race Hate Crime / Racial Harassment

In the past few years the local council’s housing policy on racial harassment cases has changed towards ‘perpetrator action’ meaning they attempt to take action against the perpetrator rather than just moving the ‘victim’. Whilst this may sound good in theory we have found the reality for our cases is NMP victims unable to name perpetrators are no longer re-housed. Also, responsibility for dealing with racial harassment is no longer focused on a central team; from our experience this has meant identifying where responsibility lies is confusing for victims and community groups.

Main areas of concern for NMP arising from our casework in 2006/7

No dedicated Racial Harassment officer in council housing departments ie: specialist support not available to victims;

Lack of support or options available for individuals / families who either cannot name perpetrators or do not wish to name them for fear of reprisal;

Where a family is successfully moved into temporary accommodation, time taken to process case in order to move them into new permanent / return to previous accommodation;

Difficulties for NMP / public obtaining relevant policies from councils regarding their policies and procedures on taking perpetrator action / targeting racial harassment;

Lack of accessible information available to public on perpetrator action taken;

From statistical information available, lack of perpetrator action actually taken by councils against perpetrators of Racial Harassment;

Effectiveness of multi-agency work between the police, council and anti-social behaviour units, in particular lines of accountability and timescales.

Policing

Background

Stop & Search figures under PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act) for 2004 – 5 in the Metropolitan Police Area show a 4% increase from the previous year, up to 237,104. Of these 85,977 were of black people and 27,433 were of Asians, accounting for 47% of all those stopped. [Home Office Statistical Bulletin: Arrests for Recorded Crime (Notifiable Offences) and the Operation of Certain Police Powers under PACE, England and Wales 2004/5]. In London, Black and Asian communities represent less than 29% of the overall population [Census 2001 information];

Stop & search figures for 2004 – 5 show black people are 6 times (although if the figures for London are excluded this falls to 4.9%, showing how high the stops rate for black people is in London) more likely and Asians 1.8 times more likely to be stopped than white people. This picture is backed up locally by our casework. [The Home Office report, Statistics on Race and Criminal Justice System 2005 (for England and Wales)];

Whilst the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) identifies Newham as a priority borough for race-hate crime with 455 reported incidents in 2004-5, it has one of the lowest figures for actions against perpetrators with only 14 civil actions taken against perpetrators between 2001 – 4 including ASBO’s and injunctions. [London-wide Race Hate Crime Forum Annual Report 2004 – 5, MPA].

Main areas of concern for NMP arising from our casework in 2006/7

Whether receipts for Stops & Searches are always being issued;

The use of PCSO’s (Police Community Support Officers) to formally ‘stop’ people;

That ‘reasonable grounds’ given by police for conducting Stops & Searches often translates for our cases to having just been the ‘wrong person’ in any given area at any time;

Police response to reports of racial harassment / race hate crime;

Arresting victims of racist crime rather than the perpetrator;

Level and quality of investigation of racial harassment cases;

Effectiveness of multi-agency work between the police, council and anti-social behaviour units;

Many issues around effectiveness if Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Anti-terrorism policing

Background

• In 2004 -5 there were 32,062 overall Searches under Section 44 of the Anti-terrorism 2000 Act, an increase of 9% nationally, of which 34% were of pedestrians. Of all those searches, 7% were of black people and 11% were Asians, despite BME communities representing less than 9% of the national population of England and Wales. Of the overall figures 40% took place in the Metropolitan Police area and 20% in the City of London area. Of the 10,941 Stops and Searches of pedestrians under Section 44 only 24 arrests related to terrorism were finally made, with no conviction rate available. [The Home Office report, Statistics on Race and Criminal Justice System 2005 (for England and Wales)];

• British Transport Police figures of stops and searches under anti-terrorism laws from July 7th 2005 to August 10th 2005 show 6,747 stops of which the majority were in London. Of these 2,390 were of Asians; [source: Guardian]

• East London has been a focus for anti-terror raids over the past 2 years. This has caused much fear and tension locally which has been reported to NMP.

Main areas of concern for NMP arising from our casework in 2006/7:

Targeting of Muslim communities;

The manner in which anti-terrorism raids are being conducted. In particular the treatment of people when raids are being conducted involving the use of unnecessary force, verbal abuse and not adhering to other codes of police conduct;

The quality and scrutiny of ‘intelligence’ used to launch raids;

The effectiveness and role of Police Family Liaison officers in supporting families after raids;

The extent of damage to properties during raids and the failure of police to repair properties adequately before returning them to occupants. This aspect can be devastating to individuals;

Leaks from police sources about raids and details of investigation, uncorroborated and incorrect ‘facts’ and lack of action taken against this by the Police;

Media coverage of raids, in particular naming individuals and their addresses.

Feedback from our Cases 2006/7

From in-depth feedback interviews with NMP cases December 2006

The majority of clients (in this study) had worked with other racial harassment, victim support, and voluntary sector bodies before contacting NMP;

Most clients contacted NMP through personal referrals or in several cases by unofficial advice by government officers (individual police officers, victim support officers);

The majority of clients had experienced frustration with the official racial harassment and police misconduct inquiry process and experienced racist treatment by officers;

The majority of clients found that their cases or complaints were not taken seriously and frequently dismissed or ignored;

Clients also found that most other organisations that they had worked with were more oriented towards achieving quick resolutions and did not push for high standards of accountability from relevant statutory bodies;

Many clients reported that ethnic organisations and advice centres would offer good-faith support but did not have the specialist knowledge to deal with racial harassment or police misconduct;

Some clients complained about the lack of visibility of NMP in the borough and lack of information concerning its services;

Feedback from individual cases in 2006/7

“Over the last 2 years they [NMP] have done so much work for me. If I knew someone in my situation I’d always recommend them to your organisation. They should get the support and help from you and it will help keep you going. NMP’s very good for the public. It’s rare talent to get that help these days.”

“NMP are very helpful and supportive compared to other departments that are supposed to help you. NMP is the best thing that has happened to me.”

“People feel the police are against them and there is nowhere to turn, NMP make you feel better that there is an organisation willing to push your case – this is particularly good to have someone doing this around racism. Police & solicitors have more respect when NMP are involved. Otherwise they’d dismiss us quicker.”