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Met Police Bodycam Video of High Profile Black Activist Arrest Goes 'Missing'

Over 60 people were in attendance at Mondays 21st of May 2018, emergency meeting called by the London Mayor's office to address rising levels of anger and concern about the arrest of Ken Hinds, a local community activist from Haringey.

With key representatives from Haringey Black communities, and a range of other London community representatives, such as Blaksox - the Social Movement, the assembled audience was both inclusive and diverse. In addition, young people got to make their voices heard, and this added to the weight of argument that was about to ensue.

Pastor Nimms

In attendance from the Mayor's office was Deputy Mayor, Sophie Linden, accompanied by Greater London Authority Staff. Councillor Joe Ejifor, the newly elected leader of Haringey Council was also in attendance, much to the surprise of local residents, who haven't seen a council leader at a community meeting, since the late great Bernie Grant MP was in charge. 

Not only did he attend, he stayed the entire meeting, so this was no puppy show business

Stafford Scott

From the local community a whole range of community activists ranging from Stafford Scott to Rev Nimms Obunge who chaired a meeting, ensured that there could be no suggestion that this meeting was not representative.

The meeting opened up with an impassioned plea from Clasford Stirling of Broadwater Farm fame, who restated and emphasised his full support for Ken and expressed his fear, that if the police could arrest someone like Ken, a man who is noted for his calm demeanour, professionalism and commitment to supporting community, and improving community relations, if even he can be subject to this type of arrest, then he feared that other activists could face is similar.

Then a young man spoke passionately about the way in which Ken had "quite literally saved my life" and how the work that Ken had done had impacted upon hundreds of young black men who were involved or on the fringes of serious criminality. Without people like Ken, he said, I would probably be dead today.

At the root of local concerns is the fact that Kens arrest appears inexplicable to anyone who knows him. How can we take the Metropolitan Police seriously, when they conspire to manufacture such ludicrously, outrageous accusations ? Ken was eventually charged with police assault and obstruction of duty. Anybody who knows Ken, knows he's not the type to be engaged in argy-bargy with police officers. 

So the charge strikes us, the community as incredulous. Although all the police involved in his arrest wore body cams that was clearly switched on during the arrest, as indicated by a constant flashing light,  following the arrest, we were all reassured, after we wrote to the Borough Commander demanding all evidence, including body cams footage be secured. 
She replied that everything in regards to Kens arrest, was being properly secured to ensure no evidence went missing.  The reality is, that's exactly what then happened.

Ken Hinds was informed on the morning of this meeting, that the body cam footage from the arresting officer, showing precisely what occurred had now "gone missing."

You really couldn't make this up, a leading member of the local community, whose spent his entire life, seeking to improve relations between local that young people and the Met, finds himself the subject of arbitrary, discriminatory, stop and search and what I believe to be,  malicious prosecution, and the police body cam video, introduced to provide reassurance about contentious police encounters, goes missing ? .

Stafford Scott laid out the full implications of the Mets Gang Matrix ranging from falsely identifying black youth as being in a gang, to these individuals finding themselves targeted by a range of government agencies and institutions, including DVLA, immigration, tax and landlords. The Matrix is now being seen as a major tool, responsible for the criminalisation, of hundreds, if not thousands of young black people in London. The meeting demanded the Mayor make a statement in response to Stafford’s devastating report. 

My own contribution, and I've written about it more here, was about the constant undermining, over the last decade of the important principle of policing of consent. I bemoaned the demise of local police consultative groups, created by Lord Scarman in 1986 in response to the Brixton uprisings against police brutality. He cited the existence of a critical  "information vacuum" as being one of the primary contributing factors to a breakdown in communication between Brixton's black communities and the Met. 

The sheer folly of the abolition of these critically important police consultative groups, was clearly demonstrated in the events, leading up to, surrounding and following the death of Mark Duggan in Tottenham in 2011. In the smouldering aftermath of ashes, bullets, blood and bone, it was clear that a lack of communication between the Met, Duggans family, and the wider community, became an infuriating and symbolic representation, of the perceived contempt that some senior officers in the Met have for Londons black communities and deaths in custody, victims families.

So to witness once again, the tragic repetition of this tired old history, is deeply frustrating for many, who of us who have been here before, and ultimately if left unaddressed, will have tragic consequences. In short, if London does not learn, it will burn.

Deputy Mayor, Sophie Linden seemed to have done very little homework in preparation for this important meeting. She challenged the notion put forward by me, that policing relations in London had deteriorated to their worst level in over 30 years. 

To back up that claim, she cited the public provision of detailed statistical information publicly available on the Mayor's office, website.


Whilst the provision of this information will be educating and illuminating for white Londoners, of that there is no doubt, but in relation to Black Londoners, the information tells us, what we already know. That's not progress, that regression. 

It's a weak and bizarre claim, for a City that had a fully, democratically accountable. Metropolitan Police Authority for a decade, all underpinned by democratically accountable , borough consultative groups, and both may I add, abolished by Tory Mayor Boris Johnson, that this atrophying of police democratic accountability in London, is purely imagined and that London's police accountability has been enhanced, by a pie chart, simply defies belief. 

The reality is that London police accountability has been seriously denuded. 

Sophie was asked a devastating question by a young, softly spoken, black women, whose question was so gently asked, that it disguised its ruthless efficency. 

She asked Sophie for 'concrete examples' of how she had improved  "police accountability" in London." ? Sophie's response was that democracy had been improved by the simple provision of detailed policing statistics. 

Which was ironic, as these statistics,  revealed the cavernous, and the fundamentally worrying, public trust deficit of black communities in relation to the Met. Facts known to the Mayors Office, hidden from us by the Met and the Mayors office, facts that had in their possession and to which their key policy response was to hope no-one would notice. 

Sophie was soon disabused, by the  assembled audience, of the idea that this somehow constituted progress. The backlash to her statement was strong and unanimous. 

The facts are quite clear. Every single London Borough with a significant Black/African/Caribbean community, public trust and confidence within the Metropolitan Police is in a parlous and dangerous state. 

Confidence levels are currently, I believe, at the lowest level we've seen in decades. In some London boroughs confidence levels for Black communities are as low as anything from between, 30% and 50%. That’s a massive and huge indictments of the Mayors Office, the Met Commissioner. 

The long and short of it is this, the Mayor and the Met, knew that confidence in the police was falling and that community tensions are clearly rising, yet they choose to keep that information to themselves and did nothing in response. That for me constitutes an outrageous abandonment of civic duty and reckless endangerment of the public, including police officers. Everyone is put in danger, as a result of this refusal to act and London is made a much less safer place as a result. 

This is what is so perplexing... about the office of Sadiq Khan, there can only be two possible explanations for their inaction; either the Mayor's office, including Deputies Sophie and Matthew, have known about these statistics all along, and therefore were aware of the of the precipitous decline of Black Londoners trust and confidence in the Met, and chose to do nothing; or they were not aware of these Met statistics until they read them on my blog. 

And when you think about it, either one of these possible explanation would be totally unacceptable, particularly against a background of public criticism and challenge that has consistently pointed out this problem to City Hall. 

Whatever the rationale for their failure to engage London's black communities, it cannot be said, that over the course of the last two years, these points have not been driven routinely home to the Mayor, by people like me and many others.

The question we have to ask, is are Deputy Mayors; Sophie Linden and Matthew Ryder, seemingly unaware or unconcerned, by this crisis in public confidence in the Met ? And why hasn't the Mayor set out a detailed policy response to an issue that could see this city burning in flames?

A notable absentee, from this important meeting was the other Deputy Mayor, the most invisible Matthew Ryder. A man who seems to risen without a trace, steadfastly refusing to make an impression. It was interesting Matthew was not at this meeting, it's also interesting that in contrast to Sophie Linden, Matthew is virtually unknown amongst Londoners.

I happen to know Matthew, from many moons ago, and although we have very little contact in recent years, I am deeply disappointed about his track record halfway through this Mayoralty. 

Let's be straight up and down about it, London Mayor Sadiq Khan is not engaged, and shows no real interest in London's African, Caribbean descent communities. Both he and his team, appear tone deaf to the experience and pain of London's black communities strained relations with the Met. The is his a blind spot and weakness, It could be his Achilles heel, an issue that could be extraordinarily costly for London and the country as a whole. New

It's remarkable, in contrast, that former Tory Mayor Boris Johnson for all his myriad of political faults, and there were many, didn't make the mistake of ignoring London's black communities in the way that Sadiq Khan has. He made it a priority to talk with, be seen to engage and court influential Black London leaders within business and faith communities.

I must say having held the post  Director of Policing for London myself for eight years, I am clear that, in terms of these critical failures, they're a reflection of the lack of experience of the Mayoral team, as it is a reflection on the Mayor himself. 

Politicians are like products and actors; they need to be told where to go and what to do. But if you don't have the respect and trust of your Mayor, then they will simply ignore you, and sometimes undermine you. Advising politicians means facing them down when they're wrong.

Deputy Mayor Ryder and Linden are failing to represent London’s black communities and provide sound advice to the Mayor about his and the Met's relationship with London's black communities, or if they are doing so, then its  Mayor Khan, that is refusing to listen. 

The sad thing is, at this stage of his Mayoralty, in terms of policy and resources, what isn't already decided is unlikely to get done. Even the helpful interventions in terms of violence prevention spending will take at least a year to deliver, against a backdrop of rising violence. This will create intolerable pressures on the Mayor and the Met leading to the cycle of policing reinvention. A moral panic, driven by the media, demands for hard enforcement, the adoption of cosmetic knee jerk policy responses, followed by more violence and ultimate failure. 

There could however, be another plausible explanation for Matthews Ryders lack of visibility and effectiveness, which would be even more concerning. T

here are very few people African/Caribbean descent in the Mayor's office and my impression is that Matthew is deeply marginalised within City Hall, and from what I'm told, from what now, has been a myriad of different sources, is that the Mayor himself simply has no respect for the man, such is his view of Matthew that the Mayors behaviour in City Hall, often borders in open and public contempt.

Either way, the fact that he was not in attendance at this incredibly important Haringey meeting, probably signals the death knell to his credibility and career, having once again seriously miscalculated the political tone and temperature of London's black communities, and failed to show his face, at a time when people are anxious, angry and hurting. 

People don't forget that kind of calculated insult.

The meeting continued with a variety of contributions from the floor, all questioning, challenging, pushing Deputy Mayor Linden for more substantive responses to key critical questions on the arrest of Ken and the discriminatory use of stop and search by the Met police.

The meeting ended with the Deputy Mayor being left in no doubt about the anger felt in the room and the potential for this Police boycott to spread to other parts of London, if not resolved quickly and positively. 

The key questions and demands for the Mayor, from the meeting were;

A demand to drop and to resolve the issue of the malicious prosecution of Ken Hinds by the Metropolitan Police Service.  

To receive a response from the Mayor's office in relation to the Amnesty International Gang Matrix report and the recent report from David Lammy MP on racism within the criminal justice system policing. 

It is simply bizarre that it's taken this crisis, this challenge, to elicit any responses from Mayor Khan in relation to these incredibly important reports, both of which  made headline national and international news the Mayor had nothing to say, until asked. 

Key reports, that provide the evidential basis for the persistent and now growing culture of racial profiling, and now as a result of inaction, have unleashed a rampant and resurgent institutional racism within the Metropolitan Police Force.

She was tasked to report back to the Mayor the level of anger and outrage in Haringey and bring back answers. 

The group itself informed her that the local Boycott remained in place. That a larger meeting, of groups across London, would be convened to consider the next steps. 

And that another meeting would be convened with her to inform her of these next steps the Haringey group will take in alliance with others, to fully address the issues raised in this meeting.

Watch this space. 

Ken Hinds has been bailed to Highbury Magistrates 19th of July 2018. 

Expert legal advice for victims of the Windrush scandal.

 This is one of four videos will be publishing this week. We will be doing a follow-up quite shortly #WindrushLive hash tag. 

Haringey Black Communities Call for Met Police Boycott After Arrest of Chair of local Stop and Search Group.

Seven years on from the civil disturbances sparked in Tottenham 201, by the killing of Mark Duggan by Met Police Officers, public relations between London Black communities and the Met are at an all-time low.  This is both a crisis of confidence and policing legitimacy. The uncomfortable truth for London and the rest of the country, is  nothing has changed and there has been no real  improvement in relations since 2011. In fact quite the reverse is true, relations between the Met and London's black communities  have become much worse.

The Annual Public Survey data supplied by the Met every year, charts the levels of public confidence in policing. This data show us that in London, Black and by that, I'm referring to African, Caribbean and Black British communities, community confidence has fallen of the scale, entering dangerous levels of distrust.

Over  the course of the last 10 years, our communities have witnessed, according to the Met police  data, a steadily decline in Black Londoners levels of public trust and confidence in the Met. These are now at precipitously dangerously low levels,. In fact I'd dare to suggest, they're the lowest ever recorded in London's long history.

And it's not just London that has seen a worsening of police/black community relations,. During the last year, right across the country, we’ve seen increasing anectdotal evidence of the extent to which the often taught relationships between distrustful black communities, and police services plagued with institutional racism, have deteriorated.

Ras Judah Bristol 

Late last year, we all witnessed the brutal arrest, tasering and subsequent charging of Windrush pensioner, 64-year-old Rasta Judah of St Pauls, Bristol, a man who has worked for decades helping improve police community relations. He was tasered and arrested, treated appallingly and yet, the no action is being taken against the officers.






Then in July of last year, the Chair of the London wide and Lambeth’s, Stop and Search Monitoring Groups, Mohammed Hashi, (now an elected Labour Councillor) , was stopped by Met police officers on Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, South London.

Cllr Dr Mohhammed Hashi Lambeth 

He was subjected to what can only be described, as a fishing trip by a group of seven officers, whose grounds for the search, appeared to him, (and he should know) to be entirely inconsistent, unreasonable and without merit. Mr Hashi was stopped by members of the now Territorial Support Group. (TSG) a Met unit now infamous amongst Londons black communities, despised for their racism, unprofessionalism and aggression.

Though a formal complaint was made, by Mr Hashi to the police, after an internal police investigation, the Met, not unsurprisingly found that this stop and search was in their view, entirely legal. 

An appeal against that decision, was then lodged by Mr Hashi, with the Independent Office of Police Complaints, who have recently concluded, there is indeed a case to answer. Mohammed, like Ras Judah has spent decades working hard with Lambeth Police Officers in an attempt to improve relations between local police and younger people.

Ken Hinds Tottenham, Haringey.

Then in April of this year, Mr Ken Hinds, Chair of the local Haringey Stop and Search Monitoring Group was himself arrested. Mr Hind’s has worked with Haringey Police for over the last 20+ years, in a determined effort, to help improve relations.

After coming across a young black man being stopped and searched in Haringey, Ken stopped and observed the interaction, and when he sought clarity, as to the rationale and reason for the stop from the officers  he too found himself subject to police abuse and then illegal arrest. Ken was detained and has subsequently been charged with police assault and obstruction of the police in the course of their duties. These are extremely serious allegations.




That seasoned black community representatives, many with long track records of working with the police, can be subjected to such police horrific racism, bears witness to the reality faced by young black people on the streets of London.

Alongside the realities of the Windrush deportation scandal, black communities are waking up to the fact, that we face real racism and massive injustices as a consequence of the growth and return of  insidious levels of institutionalised racism within the institution of British policing.

The gains made as a consequence of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry recommendations, have been largely lost over the course of the last 25 years. Hard won gains, that have been slowly frittered away as a result of deep opposition and resistance, from a variety of senior national police officers at the time, the majority of whom were furious at the labelling and designation of British police, as institutionally racist institution.

They were all too keen to have this label lifted, and unethical politicians, including, the former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, were equally keen to declare that institutionalised racism is no longer an issue and at that point, the idea of anti racist policing practice was dead in the water.

The then Home Secretary David Blanket, less than two years after the publication of the Lawrence report, institutional racism had been deemed a description, as "unhelpful "and a term that increasingly, no longer applied to British police services.

Subsequent Home Secretaries, under pressure from senior police officers, began to dismantle the enhanced race equality agenda and policy monitoring infrastructure, designed to scrutinise and hold to account police services where race inequality and disproportionality was still a major feature of policing operations.

Now that reality has hit home with London's black communities, many who now feel the last 30 years of struggle, suffering the pain, and the tragic consequences, all  in an effort to achieve an antiracist and just policing response from the Met, has now failed. And many like the Windrush generation, are realising, that just like a slow motion, car crash,  we are witnessing, before our very eyes,  the repeat of our tragic history of police oppression and urban outrage.

In Haringey, in response to the unlawful arrest of Mr Hinds, over 40 local, regional and national organisations met to discuss this incident. All signed a joint letter to Haringey Borough Cmdr, Chief Superintendent Helen Millchap, expressing serious concerns about Ken’s arrest.

Tensions are necessary running high in Haringey as a result. At a recent meeting these concerns were expressed with comments such as;

"If this can happen to Ken, who is been a supporter and adviser to the police, then what chance do we have?" and  "This is what we have been saying for many years has been happening to us, and now it's happened again."

Such was the palpable level of anger in the room, that the meeting took the unprecedented decision to launch borough wide policing boycott, ending all contact and community liaison with the Haringey Police in protest.

The meeting concluded the following, which was sent in a formal letter of complaint, signed by a broad range of key organisations and individuals, to the Haringey Borough Commander;

 "...that due to these allegations, we have lost all confidence and trust in police/community engagement. Community representatives who have been supporting community and police engagement will be directed to suspend any further interaction with the police, until further notice." 

The letter, in support of Ken Hinds, agreed to;

· withdraw from further meetings with the police

· no longer engaged with the police on any discussions on policy, practice, or activities across the borough

· not at as a conduit between police and the community on any matters relating to the prevalent issues that affect our community

David Lammy MP 

This explosive letter, bought an immediate written response from the local Haringay Borough Commander, pleading with the signatories to reconsider their planned boycott of all police liaison.

The implications of this local police boycott for London are immense and reflect the deepening crisis of  police and community relations that haunts London's black communities.  And the bitter truth is, this action  could soon spread, in response to  ever rising levels of discriminatory stop and search, police brutality and the consequent racial profiling that inevitably results in the mass criminalisation of London's black communities.

This level of oppressive policing and the racism experienced by London's black communities in the administration of criminal justice, has been ably demonstrated by the recent report on racism and criminal justice, published by Tottenham MP Mr David Lammy.

Mayor Sadiq Khan and Deputy Mayor Matthew Ryder 

The Mayor of London really needs to fix this toxic mix before it explodes and London's modern history, inevitably repeats itself with tragic consequences for all. Put simply, London will burn if it does not learn.




The reality is that the arena of black community/police relations, in a City where the black population continues to grow, and tensions continue to rise, this Mayor needs, urgently requires experienced personal, with real political credibility to advise him. . 

As for the Mayor himself, he needs real political testistical fortitude if he do anything more than issue sound bite press releases, designed to placate Daily Mail readers.  Its to be remembered the Mayor has two years left, and in policy terms that means that what doesnt get done now, is unlikely to get done at all.  The body bag count continues to rise and the time left for the Mayor to enact and then implement any effective and meaning full strategy has now passed. What isn't  in place now is unlikely to get done at all. 

Deputy Mayor Sophie Linden.

Such is the concern at City Hall within the Mayors Office of Policing and Crime in London, that both London's Deputy Mayor's Sophie Linden and Mathew Ryder, have been dispatched to calm the restless natives and a critical community meeting is being held on Monday 21st May to discuss what happens next.

Not only are the arrest's cited above counterproductive, they're malicious offensive and possibly illegal, they also have a corrosive effect on the community credibility and authority of those activists seeking to improve relations between police and black communities.

They're personally  undermined, their credibility in their own community is shot to pieces, whilst those that would argue there is no accommodation to be had with an  institutionally racist police force, and who believe no progress is possible, look entirely vindicated and strengthened as a result.

Haringey leads of the Council Joe Ejifo

In addition the newly elected leader of Haringey Council, Joe Ejifor will need to get a grip of this quickly. Areas such as Tottenham and Brixton can set the national tone for policing and remain deeply symbolic, touchstone areas, where policing is concerned. The new leadership of the new Council will be critical in getting this right and acting as a counter balance to the inaction and stasis at City Hall.


Constant criminalisation of black communities, through racist policing practices, the activities of immigration deportation squads such as Windrush, rising black school exclusions and criminally high levels of black youth unemployment, means we as a community are teetering on the edge of an seething abyss,

Such is the anger and turmoil, that such discrimination has the effect of raising temperatures to boiling point, such is the profound oppression and injustice we continue to face on day to day basis.

And the reality is that the treatment faced by these, high profile, hard working activists, is as nothing to the abuse faced by our communities at the hands of the police on a day-to-day basis.

But  terrifyingly, what this does expose, is the sick reality, that if this is what’s happening to so called ‘high-profile black people’, some of whom, have worked with the police for decades, and they too can be subjected to such arbitrary police racism and malicious prosecution, then what chance does the ordinary young black man or woman on our streets stand ?

The recent call by Mr Neville Lawrence, on the 25th anniversary of the racist murder of his son Stephen Lawrence, for a race equality audit and revisit of the original McPherson Inquiry report recommendations to identify the extent to which police discrimination continues to impact upon black Londoners, is an idea whose time has come.

Simon Wooley Chair of Race Audit Advisory Group
and PM Thersea May

A suggestion that in fact, mirrors the Prime Minister's recently announced plans, to conduct a Race Equality Audit across government. I think the Metropolitan Police and the Mayor should be hauled in for additional scrutiny. They must either explain disproportionality'or change their practice, it's that simple. Explain or change.

The Prime Minister's independent advisory group on these matters, headed up by Operation Black Votes, Chief Executive, Mr Simon Woolley, would do well to focus on the Met police at this time and ask them to explain this precipitous deterioration in London'sBlack/police community relations

Institutionalised racism within policing and criminal justice, has returned with a vengeance. Racial and economic disadvantage, amplified by  eight years of austerity and cut to public services, has led to a massive rise in wholly disproportionate negative outcomes for black people,  in terms of policing and the administration of criminal justice.

Racial injustice initially identified by Lord McPherson report and latterly, further elaborated in David Lammy MP report, continues to illustrate the extent to which the culture of racial profiling, and illegal stop and searches continues to negatively impact London's black communities. Add to that socio-economic disadvantage, rises in poverty and violence, and you have a toxic mix, a powder keg community, being squeezed by austerity and oppressed by institutionally racist policing, a  community that after almost a decade of both of mistreatment, feels to me like a community primed to explode.

Release research: The Numbers In Black and White.

This grim reality of ‘apartheid like policing’  and I use this term advisedly, to illustrate the stark current reality of two first-time offenders, one black and one white, being arrested in possession of a small amount of cannabis.

One will routinely receive a caution and the other will be sent to court for trial. This aprtehied policing is clearly  demonstrated by a board range of published research. What this research shows is that institutionalised racism produces distinctly different policing and justice outcomes for British citizens, dependent on their race, ethnicity and religion.

Such discriminatory policing, does have a ring of apartheid about it leading to increasing levels of unfair and unjust criminalisation of London's black communities, by the Met, the courts and London’s criminal justice agencies.

And just like current Windrush scandal, everyone in power, the Mayor, the Commissioner and the Home Secretary, knows whats going on and all are happy to co-sign the criminalisation of our communities.

The on going crisis of trust and confidence of London's black communities in the Metropolitan Police Force, is well recognised both within the Met and the London Mayor's Sadiq Khan office.

The real problem, is the Mayor has no one of sufficient gravitas, political or community credibility and experience, to provide him with the informed advice he needs to hear, to effectively respond to this crisis. In short, neither the Mayor nor his current team, have the ability or imagination, to take on the Met Commissioners senior management team and force them to tackle institutionalised racism head on.

Instead the Mayor has little to say, if anything, about institutionalised racism and the Met. As a result this issue continues to boil on the back burner, with potentially devastating consequences.

The Mets own Annual Public Attitudes Survey that looks at levels of trust and confidence of distinct communities across the capital, clearly and consistently, demonstrate that London's black communities, have the lowest level of trust and confidence in the police service, of any ethnic group in London.

MOPAC presentation at City Hall.

As can be seen by the graph above and the one below, trust and confidence levels as recorded by the Met and provided to me through FOI requests shows African, Black British/ Caribbean communities have the lowest levels of trusts and confidence in the capital. 

Looking at Haringey, for the last quarter of 2016/17 we can see from the table below that there exists a massive deficit in black (my definition) public trust and confidence in the Met.

What this shows is  that anything between 38% - 44%of black people in the Borough believe the local police are not excellent/good.  I believe, startling though these figures are, I believe the reality is much worse than even these terrible figures suggest. It's clear to me, that had this survey been conducted amongst a  wider sample of groups of young black people, these horrendous figures would be much, much worse.

Met Public Annual Survey (2016/17) on
Trust and Confidence in Metropolitan Police Force.

The Mets own survey data 9left) shows, that what I describe above in relation to Hackney,  is also true of every other single London Borough, where there exists significant Black/Black British/Caribbean/African  communities.

This represents the most profound crisis in confidence in the history of the Metropolitan Police Force, mirroring the levels of lack of trust, last seen in the early to mid 1980s. It's that bad, and as the data clearly confirms is getting worse, over time.

It is absolutely critical, that this is addressed by the Mayor and the Met Commissioner, The fundamental principle of, policing by consent is under acute threat, and this, at a time when the Mayor wishes to increase, the oppressive use of stop and search, in response to increased violence in black communities.


This is a fundamental political error that repeats the mistakes of the past and will lead to similar outcomes.

Despite repeated warnings to both the current Mayor and the new Commissioner, about the on going deterioration of police and community relations, both have chosen to ignore, and sought to actively undermine such claims.

I very much see the real potential, subject to further incidences of police brutality and racism, for a London wide boycott of police community relations. This would constitute an entirely avoidable disaster for the capital, and indeed the country, but it's an outcome that is now almost inevitable, given the refusal of the  London Mayor and the Commissioner to accept the reality and implications of resurgent institutionalised racism within Met.

Both would do well to remember the quote from Dr Martin Luther King., when asked to comment about the civil uprisings that occurred as a result, of Jim Crow, police racism and brutality, he said in response, " … a riot is the voice of the unheard.”

So far in relation to policing, London's black communities cries for equality and justice are falling on deaf ears, and as my Jamaican family often say, "those who can hear, must have to feel.

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