11 May How Stop And Searches Are Still Used Disproportionality On Black Males In London
Equality and Human Rights Commission reports that ‘You are at least six times more likely to be stopped and searched if you are black than if you are white’ Young black men are still more likely to be stop and searched since the beginning of the 1980’s, but can police practice help to make it better in years to come?
On the 22nd April 1993 a young Black British male from London, by the name of Stephen Lawrence was racially murdered and this devastating incident sparked an outcry from people all around the world and little did we know that in 1999 this would later be the catalyst for exposing the Metropolitan Police as ‘institutionally racist’ by Sir William Macpherson, after the two men accused of killing Stephen walked free from court.
According to the Macpherson Report ‘Institutional racism is that which covertly and or overtly, resides in the policies, procedures, operations and culture of public or private institutions reinforcing individual prejudices and being reinforced by them in turn’ and even though Macpherson made this report it seemed that the police force weren’t very keen to comply with Macpherson’s recommendations, as the police in a way have become more prejudice in the way they treat ethnic minorities, especially in regards to the stop and search procedure.
Stop and searches found in (PACE) Police and crime evidence act 1984 section 1 are only meant to be exercised if the police officer has ‘reasonable grounds’ for suspicion and the whole purpose of stop and searches is to be carried out everyday in a pursuit to put a stop to; knife crime, drugs, offensive weapons, stolen property, firearms, terrorism and anything else unlawful. However statistics have shown that some police officers in the UK and especially in London are still using their lawful power to target males who are of an ethnic minority background reanimating the claim of ‘institutional racism’ even further.
The Brixton riots was a subsequent revolutionary flashpoint back in 1981 showcasing the first initial division between the police and and the black community that led to the heavy use of the ‘sus’ (suspected person) law and operation Swamp 81, where officers would go undercover and wear plain clothes to stop and search individuals in an attempt to stop crime and this is where race relations and policing in London were a huge part of a chain of unrest and confrontation.
As the stereotype that black youths from the community were seen as criminals by the police escalated, Lord Scarman reported that the riots were the result of the police making poor judgements. He focused on the role that the police had on triggering the riots, while recommending that widespread changes needed to be made in policing and law enforcement and how it could be enforced without provoking further outbreaks of disorder.
He described the riots as “scenes of violence and disorder in their capital city, the like of which had not previously been seen in this century in Britain.” Hundreds of rioters “attacked the police on the streets with stones, bricks, iron bars and petrol bombs, demonstrating to their fellow citizens the fragile basis of the Queen’s peace.” and concluded that “racial disadvantage” and “discrimination” were a “potent factor” to the riot itself. However, Scarman doesn’t solely dismiss the stop and search policies as he believes that they would be imperative in areas characterised as having social problems in the future.
One police officer in particular Peter Bleksley, was a Metropolitan Police constable between 1978 and 1982 and participated in multiple interviews expressing his own experience working at that time. He told BBC Radio 4’s The Reunion: “Young black men in Brixton were routinely fitted up, beaten up, tortured and worse and being exposed to these actions turned him ‘from a pretty decent 18-year-old into a violent, racist thug.” He later explained in another interview for ‘The Battle for Brixton’ that black suspects were often physically hurt in the interview room until they admitted to the crimes.
Nearly 40 years after the inquiries of Lord Scarman into the Brixton Riots of 1981 and the 1999 Macpherson Inquiry into the Investigation of the Death of Stephen Lawrence, such historic events have had a limited impact on making the relationship between the police and the black community in the UK better. According to Justice Ministry statistics in 2009 the number of ‘black people being stopped and searched under counterterrorism laws rose by 322%, compared with 277% for Asian people and 185% for white people.’ under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
The British Crime Survey had also found a significant difference in the amount of vehicle stops attributed to ethnic people behind the wheel in comparison to their white counterparts. Professor Ben Bowling and Dr. Coretta Phillips in ‘Disproportionate and Discriminatory: Reviewing the Evidence on Police Stop and Search’ gave statistics from the BCS stating that: ’93 per cent of white respondents stopped were given a reason for the stop, compared with 86 per cent of black respondents. While 80 per cent of white respondents felt that the reasons given for the stop were adequate, this was true of 61 per cent of black respondents.’
These statistics showcasing ‘disproportionality’ in regards to vehicle stops was actually caught on camera earlier on this year in the case of DJ DMO an International DJ residing in London who was stopped by the police in Leicester Square, whilst driving a Bentley and was told by an officer that: ‘This isn’t racist, its a fact. Predominantly, the criminal profile of people who do it are black people…it’s common practice for black men to be stopped when they’re wearing ‘gangsta style clothing.’
DJ DMO later explained that this response didn’t come as a shock to him and ‘It confirmed what you always suspect is the case… I hope it raises awareness of what it’s like for young black men.’ It’s obvious that the ill-judgement of the use of stop and search powers has taken a strong influence from earlier research on the fact that black people are more likely to be speculative.
Exclusive figures obtained by an investigation undertaken by Channel 4 News revealed that a small number of other Metropolitan officers carrying out stop and search procedures were only targeting black males also. Approximately 200 Metropolitan police officers carried out over 19,000 searches in a six-month period and found out that one police officer in particular was found to have used his stop and search powers ’54 times in just six months, almost entirely on black men…but didn’t find enough evidence to make a single arrest.’
Whilst nine officers within the London force were responsible for 312 searches between them and out of those 312 searches, ‘almost half were on young black men, while another 44 per cent were on black or ethnic minority Londoners.’ This analysis suggested a racial bias in the way certain officers from London were using their stop and search powers on duty, which goes against the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000, which makes it unlawful for police officers to discriminate on the grounds of ‘race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality or national origins when using their powers’.
Jaimal a young black male from South London explained that he has been stop and searched multiple times with a ‘reasonable’ explanation or most frequently with no explanation at all. He went on further to explain that he had been stopped more times than he can remember and there was a memorable incident where he was waiting for his friend outside Stratford Shopping Centre and an officer came up to him and stated that he was hanging around in the area for too long, therefore becoming a cause of suspicion to him and his colleague. He was later patted down and was told that he fitted the description of someone who was displaying anti-social behaviour the week before.
Another male by the name of Jason who was a white male said that he only ever gets stop and searched when he’s with his black friends, but when he is by himself it never happens and the searches are never backed up with a reason why. When asked about the situation in terms of disproportionality against black males being searched the Metropolitan Police declined to comment on the situation in question.
HMIC lead inspector Mike Cunningham felt that “The figures for disproportionality are still pretty eye-watering.” and “The big issue with stop and search’ is that ‘it has been around for many years… but it is still a significant issue.”
But the real question is can this problematic situation ever be truly solved or made better? Police stations such as Bedfordshire Police have set up a scrutiny panel that looks at every stop and search that occurs in the county to be checked lawfully and if there are any questions over the stop and search then it will be looked into further. Community Scrutiny Panel Chairman Montell Neufville explained that after this panel was put into place ‘Bedfordshire has now seen the biggest fall in disproportionality towards black males from 6:1 to 2:1’ even though ‘this panel is exclusive to Bedfordshire…’ it can work anywhere else and could be the start of solving disproportionality in London as well as the UK as a whole.
