Category: Press

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

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

  1. For more information, contact Estelle at Newham Monitoring Project on 020 8470 8333/ 07709 656 251
  2. 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.

NMP report criticises Police media strategy in Forest Gate Raids

Forest Gate raids: Metropolitan Police accused of increasing likelihood that local communities will dismiss intelligence on ‘terrorist threat’

Newham Monitoring Project (NMP), the east London anti-racist and civil rights organisation that has provided support to the families caught up in the bungled anti-terrorism raids in Forest Gate in June 2006, has condemned the Metropolitan Police for condoning repeated and unattributed leaks to the media against the two men at the centre of the raids, which has fuelled a process of character assassination of the two brothers that were arrested and by implication other family members.

NMP has also told the body responsible for holding London’s police to account that for all intents and purposes, local police commanders in Forest Gate were sidelined and excluded from the details of the controversial raids.

NMP, which undertook a number of community consultation exercises in the weeks following the raids to find out local opinion, also reported back that the police operation has increased the likelihood that members of local communities are less likely to believe the information they are given about the nature and extent of terrorist threats.

Newham Monitoring Project’s comments are included in a submission to a scrutiny carried out by the Metropolitan Police Authority into the media and communications strategy of the MPS, focusing specifically on the way that the police communicated to local people following the botched anti-terrorism raids in Forest Gate in June. NMP has outlined in detail the police’s failures to communicate with local residents.

NMP has also told the Metropolitan Police Authority that if the unofficial briefings that appeared in the press following the Forest Gate raids as police sources were not officially orchestrated, then the Metropolitan Police is guilty of effectively condoning the actions of a small group of police officers who have anonymously fed information to the media in return either for cash, the conducting of inter-agency feuding between the Met and the security services over apportioning blame or simply in order to undermine the accountability of a public service. In such circumstances, NMP has called for an urgent investigation into the conduct of police officers based at Scotland Yard who have been responsible for misconduct.

Notes for Editors

1. A copy of NMP’s submission ‘Aftermath of the Forest Gate Raids’ is available here.

2. For further information, contact NMP on 020 8470 8333