GMC Continues to Target Black Doctors for Investigation. Dr Valentine Udoye's story will leave you shocked and stunned.

My name is Dr Valentine Udoye, the background and the origination of my persecution by GMC

are as follows:

I am a full registered Medical Practitioner with the General Medical Council, with registration no (6094869) since 2007

I graduated from Nnamdi Azikiwe University -Nigeria in 1999, where I was awarded MBBS. I registered with the Nigerian Medical Council (FM 27,449) in 1999. I started my medical practice with Nnamdi Azikiwe where I worked as a House Officer from 1999- Jan 2001, after which I moved to practice as a General Practitioner in Nigeria.

I worked as a GP in various hospitals in Nigeria before coming to UK in 2005.

The reason for this move was due to a horrific bandit attack on one of my trips on the motorway, where I witnessed murder, rape and beatings by bandits up to 30 in number. After coming out unhurt, this led to the decision to leave Nigeria for a better life for my family in the UK.

From 2005-2010, I did clinical attachments and worked as a trust grade doctor - FY1 and FY2 levels in various hospitals in the UK.

Due to my experience in general practice in Nigeria, I wanted to continue my medical practice here in the UK as a General Practitioner. On enquiry, I did understand that I could practice as a GP in the UK via two routes:

1. (a)  By obtaining a certificate of completion of training in General Practice (CCT) or

2. (b)  By obtaining a certificate of eligibility for GP registration as an international GP

Having weighed my options in terms of length of time and cost, I decided to pursue a CCT route. I applied for GP training, and I was accepted to do the training in Scotland. During my GP training, I had to apply for a visa every time I changed hospitals, which I couldn't afford as a father of a young family.

Therefore, I changed to a Tier 1 visa to avoid frequent visa applications. 

Unfortunately, I realised I couldn't work as a trainee under this Tier 1 category.

Thus, I decided to stop GP training.

In light of this dilemma, I decided to develop my GP skills by working in various departments as a non-trainee from 2011 to 2014. Having a wide experience in different fields of medicine, I decided to renew my desire to go for registration as a GP with GMC. 

Because of my experience in 2011, I decided to take the CEGPR route ( Certificate of Eligibility for GP registration). The information on the RCGP website stated that exams for membership could alternatively be taken abroad in countries such as Dubai.

I contacted the Royal College of General Practitioners Office in Dubai, and I was informed of the requirements I had to meet in order to sit the MRCG exam, as well as the exam curriculum. I noted that the exam curriculum in the UK is the same curriculum obtainable in Dubai.

I prepared for the exams from late 2014 to 2015, and I flew to Dubai on three occasions to take some of the preparatory courses in accordance with the Curriculum. Having finished the courses in Dubai, I took the MRCGP exams. I passed all the courses, including AKT & CSA. I was thereafter awarded MRCGP(INT).

This indicates that notwithstanding my qualification as a GP in Nigeria, I am now a certified General medical practitioner accredited by the Royal College of General Practitioners in the UK and worldwide. This certificate satisfies the criteria for registration as a GP with GMC. I, therefore, made an application to the GMC in 2016 for a certificate of Eligibility for GP registration.

However, The GMC, in consideration of my application, refused my registration on the grounds that I needed more training and experience in certain areas of general practice, which the GMC recommended could be fulfilled through general practice training in the UK; or through General Practice work experience in the UK or gain the necessary competencies in the posts other than GP training.

Determined to practice as a GP, I found that the GMC, in their refusal decision, stated that the responsibility to undertake any further training to meet up with their recommendations rests in me. I enquired from the NHS Health Education as to what I should do next to be able to practice as a GP.

I was advised to contact the Head of Continuing Practice, Postgraduate School of Primary Care Health Education England North East, in the name of Dr Iain Lawther. 

In April 2016, I contacted him with an enquiry about the best way for me to proceed to GP Practice in the UK. My email enquiry which clearly set out my dilemmatic situation was provided to GMC. Dr Lawther (whom the NHS Officers I contacted for advice directed me to) responded to my enquiry and clearly and rightly acknowledged that I, as an international GP, was entitled to take the route of Induction via the NHS Induction and Refreshers Scheme programme (I & R Scheme) his organisation, Health Education England runs.

Dr Lawther made it clear to me that the I& R scheme is for those GPs who were trained and qualified abroad and who would want to enter the UK to practice as GP. He directed that there were, however, some exams and processes to undertake, which included interviews, pre-assessment exams, and clinical placements.

When it became clear that I was entitled to undertake further training under the I&R scheme, all the officers of the NHS continuing education and speciality programme was involved in making it possible for me to undertake this training, and I was so grateful to all of them particularly Dr Lawther, Ellaine Griffiths and Dr Tranter.

I was asked to undertake the first pre-assessment exam in stimulatory Surgery, which I did and had a successful outcome. I was told to proceed to clinical placement in Surgery as part of the scheme. I was eventually sent for I & R placement at Mansion House Surgery under the supervision of Dr Richard Tranter, who is a GP training Programme Director in the North East, for the remaining part of the training scheme.

I worked hard to write all the assessments and works assigned to me by my clinical supervisor -Dr Tranter, and at the end of the 6 months of training, I passed all the courses, and I succeeded. I was given the structure report necessary for my registration as a GP with the GMC.  As soon as my structural report was sent to Health Education England North East, a request for full Performances List inclusion was requested. 

Then, an allegation from nowhere was fabricated that I was working as a full GP while I was undertaking the training placement as part of the I & R scheme at Mansion House Surgery. I could not believe what was happening, and before I knew it, this was escalated to GMC, who initiated an investigation and immediately moved to the Interim Tribunal of MPTS to get interim restriction orders against me on the basis of protecting public interests and patient safety.

My practice was restricted for 15 months; however, my lawyers made an application for review in December 2018 to IOT of the MPTS, which revoked the restrictions order on the basis that even if I had practised as a GP as alleged for the 6 months training placement, there was no risks report or any concerns raised during the training period and more importantly, I have finished the training. Therefore, there was no need for any restriction since I moved back to my employer to continue my work as a locum specialist Doctor.

I thought that by the MPTS IOT decision, GMC would agree with the IoT reasoning and its order of revocation and leave me alone. Unfortunately, my lawyer received a letter from GMC in January 2019 that they would be proceeding to drag me to Medical Practitioners Tribunal services (MPTS) for Fitness to practice to investigate me on totally new allegations. 

The allegations were that whilst I was undertaking the training placement at the Mansion surgery, I was paid the I & R scheme bursary, which the GMC argued I was not entitled to receive on the basis that I was not entitled to undertake the I & R scheme programme. 

They alleged that by my receiving the bursary, I have been dishonest.

The GMC further alleged that during the filling of my application for the I & R scheme form in 2016, I had ticked yes to the question “are you on the GP GMC register” which was a one-off mistake among all other similar questions I had ticked correctly. 

That by me ticking yes, I have been dishonest. These allegations were subjected to MPTS proceedings from January 2019 until January 2020, when the MPTS dismissed all the allegations without finding even misconduct on my part. I thought I was resurrected from death, and it was the end of my trial part of life, but alas.

Despite the fact that the MPTS proceedings lasted for 2 years before I was finally acquitted of all GMC charges on January 2020, and despite the huge financial burden I personally faced throughout the duration of the GMC proceeding, the GMC appealed the MPTS to the High Court.

All my sickness resurfaced, and I was struggling all the while with emotional, psychological and financial hazards, including the impacts which led to the breakup of my marriage. 

That effect has not left me to date. 

Then, the High Court, rather than acknowledging that the MPTS had heard the 8 witnesses presented by GMC and all of them did not blame me, including the Lead and the Director of Health Education England North East who runs the I & R scheme, ignored all of these and set aside the MPTS determination and remitted it back to a different MPTS panel albeit not on grounds of public interest or patient safety reasons but only on the technicality that MPTS did not understand the GMC case.

The remittal hearing has been again listed for 13 days long hearing in October 2022, which in effect subjected me further to another huge financial hardship, psychological and emotional trauma.  I have been struggling to sleep for the past 4 years. My marriage has broken down, and my children have been confused about what has been happening to me. 

I really need help.

I am facing serious emotional, psychological and financial trauma because of the GMC’s unwarranted attacks against me. GMC’s attacks on me are without any justified reasons. I have never practised as a GP during the I & R training placement; rather, I was under the supervision of a GP trainer Dr Tranter who also confirmed that I was his candidate and an I & R GP trainee.

GMC’s unwarranted and aggravated atrocious attacks on me and other BAME doctors need to be brought to the attention of the public with a view to stopping their unnecessary attacks on medical doctors in the UK, particularly against BAME doctors. 

This has destroyed my family, what I have worked for, and me as a person. Additionally,  I am struggling now to live with a lot of debts accruing from legal costs in defence of GMC attacks and persecutions. 

Call to action. 

My hearing is due to take place in Manchester on 29th September at 10.00 am at Medical Practitioners Tribunal Hearing St James Building, 79 Offord Street, Manchester M1 6FQ.  

I ask that you share this article. Promote my campaign material, and finally, help me mobilise community attendance at my forthcoming hearing. 

Lee Jasper On the Independent Office of Police Conduct Report into The Death of Rastaman Ian Taylor.

Lee Jasper On the Independent Office of Police Conduct Report into The Death of Rastaman Ian Taylor. 

In 2019 on the hottest day of that year, a black man lay dying on the streets of Brixton. That man was Rastaman and severe asthmatic Ian Taylor. On police bodycam video played at this Inquest earlier this year, Ian is repeatedly heard crying out the terminal words, “I can't breathe. It’s worthy of note that Ian died a full year before George Floyd’s murder, and this desperate plea became a global demand for justice. Not once was there any reference here in the UK media to Ian's tragic death for reasons I shall explain shortly.

The Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation report published recently into the controversial and preventable death of Ian Taylor has remarkably determined that there is effectively no case to answer regarding Lambeth Police Officer's treatment of our brother. Ian, a 54-year-old Rastaman, died a brutal and unnecessary death on 29th July Coldharbour Lane in 2019, surrounded by a callous group of Lambeth Police Officers who mocked him as he lay dying.

Arrested on suspicion of being involved in a fight, Ian was found lying on the pavement outside Brixton Domino Club, Coldharbour Lane, and immediately handcuffed. The circumstances surrounding Ian’s death have become a lightning rod for change that demands police accountability and radical change.

At the time of Ian's death, Lambeth Police issued a press release stating that Ian had died because of an assault, and subsequently, two local black men were arrested on suspicion of his murder. Unbelievably, those investigations are still ongoing even though Lambeth Police knew at the time that the likely cause of Ian’s death was nothing to do with an assault. 

Why would Lambeth Police put out such false and misleading information? Some would say this was a cynical media diversion tactic to shift the initial focus away from the Officers and ensure that the local community didn’t discover what had happened for fear of a community outcry and public backlash.

As was recently revealed dramatically, at a recent Brixton public meeting attended by Ian’s Taylors family that I helped organise and co-chair, not only was the community kept in the dark at the time about what happened to Ian, but so were local Councillors, MP Helen Hayes, the Leader of the Council, and the media.

What has become abundantly clear in the subsequent period since Ian’s death and his Inquest is that Lambeth Police decided to keep the facts from the public, elected officials and the media at the time. They failed to inform, brief, and reassure or be accountable to the public in any meaningful way. That is a severe and catastrophic error of judgment.

When the Police engage in media manipulation and fail to be accountable to local communities and elected officials, that is a grave matter. Community confidence in policing, consultation and local accountability are vital cornerstones of any effectively functioning democracy.

As we can see, the initial Lambeth Police Service briefing on Ian’s death bears no relation to this incident's facts. Despite the truth being revelated shining a light on the culpability of Lambeth officers for Ian's death, Lambeth Police have, to date, chosen neither to apologise nor publicly correct this deeply misleading police briefing.

Ian's death was not caused by injuries caused by anyone else. His avoidable death was a direct result of police inaction. An inquest later determined that Ian died due to an acute asthma attack and dehydration on the hottest day of 2019, with temperatures well above 30 degrees. His asthma was aggravated by the stress of his arrest and the fact that he was seriously dehydrated.

Had he been taken to hospital, there is no doubt in my mind that Ian would be alive today.

When the first officers arrived on the scene, Ian was already on the ground and struggling to breathe; the officer's evidence stated that on arrival ‘.… I could see the man on the floor appeared to be in pain and some distress”. 

Despite this, Officers placed Ian in handcuffs within two minutes of arrival. So, there was no doubt that the Officers were aware that Ian was in severe pain and was showing signs of acute distress.

Ian repeatedly asked officers to find his asthma pump. Although the IOPC report indicates officers did conduct a primary search through his jacket and called an ambulance, they continually mocked Ian’s insistence that he couldn’t breathe and refused to give him water; they laughed, accused Ian of faking distress, and watched him while he lay dying.

His Inquest found Ian to have died from an acute asthma attack and severe dehydration. They could have added ‘and the damaging effects of unacknowledged institutional racism in policing.’ Coroner Andrew Harris was shocked that police had not considered driving Mr Taylor to a nearby hospital, given they were aware of severe ambulance delays that day.

Add to this horrific scenario that he died on the hottest day of the year, with temperatures well above 30 degrees, surrounded by seven Lambeth police officers. Ian was pleading for his life, handcuffed, lying prone and in the searing heat. While Ian lay struggling for breath and dying of thirst, surrounded by officers mocking him, one officer took out a fresh bottle of water, drank some and poured the rest over her head and as was revealed at his Inquest, she didn’t offer Ian a single drop.

Despite the recent IOPC finding, the Coroner was sufficient concerned that he referred a police officer who was recorded as dismissing Mr Taylor’s complaints of being unable to breathe to his sergeant as “blah, blah, blah ... all a load of nonsense” to the police watchdog for investigation. The IOPC has dismissed his concerns.

The IOPC report states that an officer responded to Ian, “you can breathe because you are breathing, but you need to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, ok? I am helping you.’ Ian, in response, repeatedly says, “I’m dying,” and complains of being hot and thirsty. One of the seven officers in attendance was heard on camera saying, “…ignore him. He’s playing the poor me card.”

Just consider that as Ian lay dying, repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe,” Lambeth Police officers stood around and made jokes.

Body-worn video shows the officers eventually took him out of the sun, pulled his jacket down, and stated they provided him with some shade by ‘positioning themselves to block out the sun.’

That’s certainly one interpretation, but the police body cam videos available to the IOPC show a completely different story. Given the video evidence, I find some of the IOPC finding perverse and make little to no sense in the real-world policing experience of London's Black communities or the expected professional policing standards.

As Police waited for an ambulance, officers were constantly made aware of massive delays to ambulance services on that fateful day. Yet, despite being just five minutes away from Kings College hospital, not one of the seven officers decided to take Ian to A&E despite his deteriorating condition.  Ian was eventually placed in the back of a police car. There are four minutes of missing body cam video of Ian in the Police car, and they happen to be the last four minutes that preceded the end of his life. Filming resumes seeing the officer's frantic efforts to save Ian's life, who had stopped breathing, leading to blind panic among officers.

Officers bizarrely claimed and were believed by the IOPC that they were unaware they could transport an arrested suspect to the hospital. They incredulously stated, and this was their core defence, that they genuinely believed that doing so was ‘against force policy.’

This unbelievable response from officers should have been instantly dismissed as nonsense by the IOPC. How can professionally trained police officers claim that they actively believed they were not allowed to transport people requiring medical treatment to the hospital when faced with such an extraordinary situation? Even more concerning is that the IOPC appears to have accepted this explanation at face value. This cannot be a reasonable conclusion given the available evidence of camera footage and police interviews.

In stark contradiction to their finding that there is no case to answer, the IOPC report clearly states that police officers can and, in fact, regularly transport suspects/members of the public to hospital.

“MPS policy does not prohibit the transport of detainees to hospital in a police vehicle but does make it clear that such a decision will only be appropriate in exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of the police driver.’ Despite officers not following their policy and transporting Ian to A&E, the IOPC found no evidence of misconduct on their part.

Notwithstanding the above, the IOPC investigation report starkly contrasts the galling evidence revealed at Ian Taylors Inquest, where the Officer's evidence demonstrated the callousness and shocking levels of unprofessionalism.

The Inquest findings highlight the mediocre quality of this IOPC investigation and its inexplicable conclusions. The Ian Taylor Inquest shone a bright light on Lambeth police officers who failed in their duty to save his life. They could have transported Ian to the hospital and should have done so straight away. This is lethal incompetence if one accepts the officer's testimony, and I, for one, do not.

This alleged incompetence cost an innocent man his life.

Nor do I accept that this is a matter of better training for police officers. I assert that Police officers shouldn't need professional training to ensure they offer basic human empathy and compassion to a person in distress. Had just one of them done so, their intervention could have saved Ian's life.

This IOPC report concludes that the officers did nothing wrong, suggesting that just one officer be given “words of advice and offered reflective practice.”

Local MP Helen Hayes, who also attended the Brixton meeting on Ian’s death, subsequently complained to the IOPC following the Corner's comments that called for one of the officers who failed to offer Ian any assistance to be referred on disciplinary charges to the IOPC. Interestingly, the Coroner, the local MP, the Council, and the local community all disagree with the IOPC's conclusion that there is no case to answer.

In many ways, this scenario reminds me of Rashan Charles's case. A young Black man was choked to death by a police officer in 2017; all caught in the full horrific video glare.

Back then, if you recall, the IOPC investigated, and we were told not to believe our lying eyes and accept that Rashans death was lawful and proportionate.

Like hell it was. As in the case of Rashan, these woeful IOPC conclusions on the end of Ian Taylor are, I believe, fundamentally respect for the rule of law and police officers in general. In both cases, the UK authorities have tried to bury their harrowing evidence and protect the police officers involved.

And we all know why.

The elephant in the room is the continually denied existence and reality of a toxic culture of institutional racism. A culture that strips both police officers of everyday compassion and black people of our humanity. Institutional racism dehumanises police officers and black people alike. The consequences are the most dramatic loss of Black public confidence in the long and turbulent relations between the Met and London’s Black communities. 

And that's why these IOPC conclusions are more than just an embarrassing whitewash. They are a damning indictment of the Met institutional racism that has had the generalised effect of oppressing and criminalising London's Black communities for decades. 

This IOPC whitewash of Ian Taylor's death sends a clear message to the Met and London's Black communities that the culture of institutional racism will be allowed to continue with impunity. It also reinforces the view that black lives don't matter, an approach and sentiment that can only have catastrophic consequences for London.

In releasing this report in the middle of August, the IOPC could also be accused of cynical media manipulation, choosing to publish during the holiday period. Given the deeply tarnished public reputation of both the IOPC and the Met, there remains a series of essential questions and contradictions between the officer's evidence to the IOPC, and the evidence heard at the Inquest.

Cllr Mahamed Hashi, Lambeth’s Cabinet Member for Safer Communities, who was in attendance at the recent Brixton meeting, said in response to the IOPC report, 

 “Ian Taylor’s death has traumatised his family and shocked the local community. That pain was laid bare during a community meeting at Lambeth Town Hall in July when his relatives spoke with searing honesty and clarity about their tragic loss.

“They also spoke of their extreme concern about how the information had been shared and how this had made a terrible situation even worse for them. This shock and anger were reflected across the room as others in our community spoke about their own experiences and reflected on what had happened.

“This latest announcement is profoundly disappointing and makes very clear that much more must be done to change the culture of policing. At Lambeth Council, we are already working hard to improve public accountability regarding policing the borough, whether around stops and searches or how the police engage with local communities following incidents in their area.

“But it must be backed up by the Met responding to being put in special measures by developing new and better ways of engaging with communities, becoming more transparent and more reflective of the diverse city it seeks to serve.”

Speaking at the Ina Taylor community meeting last month, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, Helen Hayes, condemned the “gross failure” of responding officers over Mr Taylor’s death.

She also called upon the then-acting police head, Sir Stephen House, to investigate what role “racism may have played in the way that Ian Taylor was treated”.

Chief Superintendent Colin Wingrove, the most senior officer in Lambeth, repeated an “unreserved apology” to Mr Taylor’s family for the officer’s comments, saying they lacked “care, compassion and respect”.

“When we deal with any incident, especially when someone needs our help, we expect the highest professional standards and care, treating people with dignity and respect,” he said.

“This is what the public rightly expects from their police service, and I am sorry we did not meet those high standards in every respect when responding to Mr Taylor.”

He acknowledged the impact on Mr Taylor’s friends and family and said his officers would work with them and the wider community to respond to their concerns and “rebuild trust and confidence”.

The Mayor of London. 

There is growing political consensus across the capital on the need for the Met to tackle systemic discrimination. The Mayor of London reported in the Pink News speaking on the current Met crisis, and former Commissioner Cressida Dick said

“One of the reasons why I lost confidence in the previous commissioner was my lack of confidence in her plans to address the two big issues – addressing the systemic racism, sexism, homophobia and misogyny, but also the trust and confidence required from our public when you police by consent,”

Lambeth.

The problem for Supt Wingrove is that in the two years since becoming borough Commander, the general public, specifically Lambeth Black communities' trust and confidence in Lambeth police have collapsed. Under his watch, Lambeth has the highest recorded incidence of race complaints, the lowest level of Black trust and confidence, and the highest level of race disproportionality across all use of controversial police powers of any borough in London and of any Police service in the UK.

Further, he has allowed the most catastrophic deterioration of police accountability forums in the borough. As public surveys of policing satisfaction in Lambeth have shown, throughout Wingrove's time at Lambeth, both rates of race disproportionality have risen whilst the quality of community relations and public confidence in policing have all seriously deteriorated under his command.

Restoring our trust and confidence in Lambeth is predicated on the existence of robust and publicly accountable police-community forums. One of the immediate legacies of Ian's untimely death is that the Council is fully committed to addressing these controversial policing issues and re-establishing rigorous and practical community police accountability structures in the borough. This comes not a moment too soon.

The Met is now in deep crisis and has been placed in special measures by its own regulatory body due to its failure to acknowledge and address the issues of what, under former Commissioner Cressida Dick, became a virulent and resurgent culture of institutionalised racism and discrimination.

The National Police Chief Council’s recently published Race Action Plan and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, have both prioritised tackling systemic racism as a matter of urgency,

The return of genuine police accountability in Lambeth can’t come soon enough. It's too late for Ian Taylor, but we can ensure sufficient scrutiny and public accountability to minimise the extent to which such a sad and avoidable death could happen again.

On the issue of police accountability and tackling racism, the challenges for the Met, the Mayor and Government are existential and critical. With the quality of senior officers and borough commanders at the Met today, I’m not sure the Met has the commitment, resources or personnel or skills necessary to ever recover fully.

Its the 3rd anniversary of the untimely and utterly preventable death of Ian Taylor whilst in Met Police custody. A call to action.

Today the 29^{th of} June 2022 marks the third anniversary of the tragic death of yet another London Black man at the hands of the Metropolitan Police Service whose last words were a premonition of the exact words used by George Floyd a year later “I can’t breathe”   

 

Just to jog your memory on this same day in 2019, the mercurial Lil Naz was breaking the internet with his new country hip hop Old Town Road tune.  Donald Trump Jr tweeted and then deleted that the then-Senator Kamala Harris now Vice President wasn’t black because of her Jamaican Indian heritage. 

 

And on the world-famous Coldharbour Lane, Brixton South London a 54-year-old Rasta and reggae musician lay dying on what was slowly suffocating on the hottest day of the year. 54-year-old Black man Ian Taylor died in horrific circumstances surrounded by seven officers on Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, South London.  

Lambeth is in a bad way. 

Disgracefully, Lambeth in terms of policing has the highest rates of race disproportionality and race complaints in London. We also have one of the highest rates of stop searches, and alarmingly, according to the Met's own figures and Lambeth has the lowest level of Black public trust and confidence of any borough in London. 

 

You’re unlikely to have heard of the case of Ian Taylor after some research I believe the Police, the London and local press and others conspired to ensure that there was, what was in effect, a complete media blackout at the time. The reason for this should be obvious. The Police believed that had the circumstances of Ian’s death been known at the time there would have been public outrage and may have caused widespread civil disturbances if known at the time.

 

The London Evening Standard reporting at the time said Ian died following a fight. That was a lie 

 

Why was no one briefed? 

I have asked a range of senior politicians and some MP’s whether the Met briefed them at the time of Ian’s death in 2019, and all those asked have told me that they knew nothing about this case and they were not briefed by Chief Superintendent Colin Wingrove. I have subsequently written to Mr Wingrove asking for a full audit of precisely who was briefed about Ian’s death at the time. Suffice to say I’m still waiting. 

 

If no elected representative or community representative were briefed, including the Leader of Lambeth local council, local MP’s, and The Mayor's Office by the Met then this represents a most serious subversion of democratic accountability and an attempt by the Met to manipulate the media. 

Inhumane treatment. 

As a black community, we know that one of the most insidious aspects of institutional racism in policing is that officers view Black people as less than human. Time and time again we see powerful evidence of how the culture of police racism promotes dangerous stereotypes situating any black person as capable of serious violence regardless of age, circumstance, or gender. 

 

The culture of racism is not only malignant it is socially contagious and regularly attempts to rationalise the inexplicable. How many times has a video emerged that shows racist sometimes violent policing where the Met has offered an analysis that bears no resemblance to the real reality we can see on screen? Such is the overwhelming power of racism 

 

That’s why we consistently see policing incident after incident being captured on video. 

 

The truth is that London sees violent arrests of black people daily. The lack of compassion can be witnessed by the sickening abuse of sisters Nichole and Bibba, the brutal treatment of Child Q, and the violent arrest of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Stockwell recently and it doesn’t stop there. 

 

Wherever a culture of racism exists misogyny and homophobia are never far behind. The cases of Sarah Everard and Stephen Portman provide vivid evidence of the toxic reality of institutional discrimination that is fully established as an informal but all too powerful core cultural value of the Met.  It used to be canteen culture, now its mainstream culture. 

 

And these are not isolated incidents, they reflect the reality of institutional racism that leads to the industrial dehumanisation of black people, and because officers know that over the last decade less than 3% of racism complaints against the police were upheld, they act with arrogant impunity These are figures one would expect to see in the despotic regimes of Vladimir Putin’s Russia or Kim Jong-un’s North Korea.

Failure to tackle institutional racism. 

Met Commissioners Cressida Dick, her predecessor Bernard Hogan-Howe and Boris Johnson's eight years as Mayor of London's collective failure to tackle racism have been catastrophic. The cumulative effect positively reinforces the racist behaviour of officers, who tend towards using either overwhelming force or underwhelming compassion when dealing with black Londoners. 

Whether as victims of crime or suspects the toxic culture means that Black people are rarely believed by police officers. In the Met there exists a powerful culture of doubt and disbelief that drives officers’ behaviour. 

 

Today the sheer scale and depth of this crisis are confirmed with the news that the Met has been put into special measures by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.  

A dog would've received better treatment. 

Let’s be clear here regarding Ian, a badly injured dog would have been treated with more compassion by these officers. There is no doubt in my mind that had a badly injured dog been found by officers that dog would have received more compassion than Ian received. The dog would have been taken straight to a local vet in a heartbeat, the cold stone reality of this culture of police racism was that Ian was left to die. 

Police Bodycam. 

Police body cam footage shown at Ian’s recent Inquest shows Ian in handcuffs, lying on the streets telling officers that his airways were closing. Ian was an acute Asthma sufferer and would often need his inhaler to help him breathe.  Officers looked for his inhaler but failed to find it they then began mocking and laughing at Ian as he begged for his handcuffs to be taken off and be taken to the hospital. 

Ambulance.

Even though the Officers were fully aware that the Ambulance had been delayed they simply refused to take Ian to a nearby hospital. Ian is seen repeatedly begging for his life. On one of the hottest days of the year, in 34-degree heat whilst officers are sharing bottles of water not one of the Officers offered him a drink.  At his Inquest dehydration was cited as a contributory cause of death. 

 

He says he's can't breathe....blah, blah blah.

Another police officer can be seen telling his sergeant that Mr Taylor was “playing the old ‘poor me’ card”. Six minutes before Mr Taylor went into cardiac arrest, he reported that Mr Taylor was, “saying he’s got chest pains, he can’t breathe, blah blah blah, it’s all a load of nonsense, but there we go”.

 

After 25 mins officers moved him out of the sun into the back of a Police car where Ian was told that were no ambulances and that he should grow up. Five minutes later Ian had a massive cardiac arrest, officers gave him CPR, but Ian was declared dead in hospital. 

Alliance for Police Accountability. (APA) 

As Chair of the soon-to-be-launched Alliance for Police Accountability, we intend to conduct the first national consultation with Black communities in five cities in England and Wales over the next two years. The aim of this consultation is to co-produce a National Black Policing and Anti Violence, Public Health Public Charters that will set out the high-level strategic demands of policing reform and ask the question of what the black community sees as our responsibility to tackle the rise of serious violence. 

 

Lambeth meeting. 

On Thursday 7^th July at 6.30 pmLambeth Assembly Hall, Lambeth Town Hall we will meet to hold Lambeth Police to account for the death of Ian Taylor.  

You need to book your place online here in advance. 

 

The meeting will give the community the opportunity to hear the detail of what happened to Ian and you can put your questions directly to Chief Superintendent Colin Wingrove and local Lambeth politicians. 

 

We will also be joined by Marcia Rigg Chair of the United Friends and Family Campaign and sister of Sean Rigg who died in Lambeth police custody in 2008. UFFC is a solidarity and support network of families who have suffered deaths in police and prison custody.

Social media shadow ban protical is full effect. 

The information about this event is being suppressed with shadow bans on social media and deep reluctance by anyone other than the Voice Newspaper covering this story. What that means s we need your help to break the silence. Please promote and share articles and share the flyers across your social media. 

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Last word...

 

I leave the last word to Ian Taylor’s Aunt, Pauline Taylor, recounting Ian's last words caught on video:

“‘I need my inhaler…I can’t breathe…I’m dying.’ These were the last pleading words of my nephew. He died on the street begging for help, not from just one, but seven police officers who casually dismissed his pleas and even went so far as to laugh and mock him. What more could he have said in those moments to solicit help and simple humane compassion from those who are sworn to serve and protect. 

 

What has been learnt? One officer said that he would do exactly the same given the same set of circumstances…May God help us! Our family is broken, our pain wakes us each morning and steals into our dreams at night, but in trying to heal we recognise that the disclosures relating to Ian’s untimely and cruel death can be used as a tool to bring about better training, effective practice and holistic awareness and challenge the ugly existence of unbiased racism.”

 

End. 

 

Lambeth Police Service has the worst rates of police racism in London.

  Lambeth Police Race Statistics Briefing.

Email: LambethYouthSafetyForum@mail.com 

29th June 2021. 

Introduction. 

 

This paper provides a summary picture outlining the publicly available data in relation to Lambeth Police Service and Lambeth’s Black and/or BAME communities.  For context, some additional national and regional figures are also included. 

 

National. 

 

The percentage of UK Black people aged 16 and over who had confidence in their local police, by ethnicity from 2017 to 2020 dropped from 76% to 64% [1]

London. 

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has recently launched a Mayors Action Plan [2] focused on tackling the disproportionality of the Metropolitan use of police powers, improving trust and confidence among London African and Caribbean descent communities and consulting on improving police accountability. To help inform these discussions he has also launched a Mayors

Action Plan Dashboard[3] that provides access to key data in relation to trust, confidence and disproportionality.  

The Dashboard allows viewing of Met performance in relation to disproportionality and public perception in Lambeth in some detail

Only 46% of Black London residents think the police are doing a good [4] job. 

A study conducted by University College London published in the Guardian Newspaper in 2020 reported that all the stops and searches conducted by Metropolitan, City of London and British Transport Police officers on young Black males meant they were 19 times [5] more likely to be stopped and searched in London than white males.

Race complaints [6] against Metropolitan Police Officers have risen by 90% since 2018.  Of 7300 complaints made over the last nine years, only 59 (0-8%) were upheld.

 

Between April 2019 and March 2020 in London, there were 18 stops and searches for every 1,000 White people, compared with 71 for every 1,000 Black people. 

 

In 2019-20 the Met used restraint [7] 18 times on Black people for every 1,000 of the pop. For white people, restraint was used five times per 1,000 of the population.

Knife Crime in London. 

Met figures show [8] that in 2008 African and Caribbean victims of knife crime stood at 1,866 and rose to 2, 991by 2018.

White victims over the same period were 3,948 in 2208 rising to 5,281  in 2018.

Lambeth residents' perceptions of police. 

Across all public perception indicators [9] people’s opinions about Lambeth Police have worsened across all indicators. 

Lambeth residents express [13] the lowest level of public trust and confidence in London that Lambeth Police officers will treat them fairlyLambeth stops and searches. (S&S)

Stop & Search volumes from May 2019 [10] – May 2020 inclusive – 17,933, and Southwark – S&S volume May 2019 – May 2020 inclusive – 18,434

Positive outcome runs[11] at 24% meaning that 76% of stop and search results in No Further Action. (NFA) In Lambeth, that amounts to 25,000 people per year. being routinely stopped for no purpose.  

64.6% of those stopped and searched in the 12 months to April 2021 were Black, compared to 27.4% who were White and 5.1% Asian. 

In Lambeth, Black Individuals were 5 times more likely to be stopped and searched compared to White Individuals, with Asian individuals 1.7 times more likely to be stopped and searched. 

 

64.6% of those stopped and searched in Lambeth in the 12 months to April 2021 were Black, compared to 27.4% who were White and 5.1% Asian. 

 

S&S increased massively during the lockdown. 

The percentage of positive outcomes [12] ( an arrest was made) in relation to S&S in May 2021 was 5.1% the vast majority for drugs offences. 

White people are S&S [14] at a rate 22.5 per 1000 in Lambeth and Black people at a rate of 96 per 1000. 

Lambeth (5^th) and Southwark (3^rd) are both in the top 5 London[15] boroughs for stop and search. 

The consequence of being disproportionately policed is increased entry into the criminal justice system. 

 

The average prison sentence for Black people in 2009[16] was 20 months. For Whites, it was 15 months.[17]

 

By 2018 for Black people it had risen to 28 months and for Whites, it was 18 months.[18]

Lambeth Police Accountability Structures.

There are no public Black community public police accountability forums re policing in Lambeth.

 

·      The LIAG’s minutes are not publicly available, neither are its terms of reference, the method of joining the group, nor its full membership (other than Chair and Vice Chair) are not publicly known. 

 

·      Safer Lambeth Partnership Executive minutes are confidential and there is no transparency re genuine and authentic community accountability. 

 

·      Lambeth Safer Neighbourhood Board. The Mayor’s Office has accepted that SNB’s across London are not working and is wanting to consult re improved arrangements. 

 

·      Lambeth Stop and Search Monitoring Group no longer meets and is entirely dysfunctional. 

 

 

 

Conclusion.

 

The Mayors Action Plan is timely. Lambeth Police need to enter genuine consultation with Lambeth’s black communities to co-produce new police accountability and anti-racist policing framework for Lambeth.  

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[1] Confidence in local policing. Crime, justice, and the law. Ethnicity Facts and Figures. UK Government Published 12^th May 2021. 

[2] Action Plan- Transparency, accountability and Trust in Policing. Mayors Office for Crime and Policing (MOPAC) published on 13^th November 2020

[3] Mayors Action Plan Dashboard (MOPAC) Updated Q4 2021

[4] Mayors Office for Policing and Crime Public Voice Dashboard June 2021

[5] Young black males in London ’19 times more likely to be stopped and searched’ Guardian Newspaper published 3^rd December 2020 

[6] Race Complaints Against Met Up 90% in two years. London Evening Standard. Published 4^th June 2021 

[7] Met Police are four times more likely to use force on black people BBC News. Published 30^th July 2020

[8] Ethnicity of people proceeded against and victim of knife crime Calendar Years 2008-20198 (up to 30-11-2018) Metropolitan Police Service. Freedom of Information request. Published by Met. police.UK 7^th January 2019 

[9] Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime Public Voice Dashboard June 2021

[10] Search Volumes for Reporting Period: May 2019 to end of May 2021 Published by Met. police.UK May 2021

[11] Ibid (10) S&S R12 2021 Summary tab 

[12] Ibid (10) Outcomes Summary tab

[13] Ibid (1) Satisfaction Demographics

[14] Ibid ((6) Searches Demographics 

[15]  The London Boroughs are where you’re most likely to be stopped and searched by police. Published by MyLondon.News 16^th May 2021

[16] The average length of custodial sentences. Published by Ministry of Justice www.gov.uk 8^th October 2020

[17] Ibid (11)

[18] Ibid (11)