Category: Press

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

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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. Read more

Update On ‘Save Our Language Papers’ Campaign

Bad-Times_A4The ‘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. Read more

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

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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. Read more

Statement from family of Adnan Patel

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”

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.

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

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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.