APA Slams Racial Attack on Met Black Police Association Chair and Calls for Discussion Re National Black Recruitment Boycott.

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

In Important Election Year, APA Condemns Racially Charged Attack on Met BPA Chair And Backs National Black Police Association (NBPA) Presidents Calls for a National Discussion about Black Police Recruitment Boycott.

Date: Monday, 5th February 2024

The Alliance for Police Accountability (APA) strongly condemns the Metropolitan Police Service's (MPS) recent racially motivated misconduct investigation against the Chair of the Met Black Police Association (Met BPA), Charles Ehikioya. 

 

This act of suppression highlights the systemic racism ingrained within the MPS, as revealed by the Casey Review in 2023, which found Black officers to be disproportionately subjected to misconduct investigations.

 

APA Chair Lee Jasper stated, "The MPS's targeting of the Met BPA Chair is an egregious attack on the campaign for racial justice in the Met and an extension of this government's phoney ideological war on the woke. 

However, this year will see the Mayor of London and a general election take place. It's more crucial than ever for us to challenge systemic police racism. The MPS's weaponisation of the misconduct system against Black officers is unacceptable. It demonstrates the reality of a toxic policing culture of racism and discrimination that must be brutally confronted and completely dismantled."

 

In light of the upcoming Mayoral and General elections, the APA will be collaborating with a range of national Black organisations, including the NBPA, to demand greater action against racism within the MPS. 

Jasper added, 

"2024 is not just any year; it's a pivotal moment for us to hold the MPS accountable. The MPS year-old Turnaround Plan and the Mayor's Action Plan - now four years old - are deeply emblematic of failed and outdated policy approaches, filled with warm words and pious statements but with no substantive action or outcomes. We repeat  ad nauseam that the MPS Commissioner's routine denial of the existence of institutional racism is a significant and fundamental blind spot, preventing any real progress."

 

The investigation into the Met BPA Chair, instigated after he highlighted senior officers' misconduct and the racism faced by colleagues, appears to be a concerted effort to silence a prominent voice for racial equality within the force. The restrictions placed on the Chair, including barring his involvement in discrimination cases and attendance at MOPAC meetings, are a clear attempt to silence black voices for racial justice.

 

The APA echoes the sentiments of Leroy Logan MBE, Janet Hills MBE, and Mina Smallman regarding the challenges Black police officers and activists face within the MPS. Andy George, President of the NBPA, has voiced a lack of confidence in the MPS's leadership to enact necessary reforms, suggesting a temporary halt on BAME recruitment into the MPS until significant changes are made. The APA believes this approach should now be discussed nationally among a range of national Black organisations as an urgent priority. 

President of the National Black Police Association (NBPA), Andy George, said, "Given the crisis in confidence highlighted through so many incidents and reports, I cannot say that we can adequately protect and support officers of colour within the MPS. For that reason, I take the extraordinary step of saying that we no longer have confidence in the Commissioner or his senior leadership team to bring about the necessary and promised reforms to the service. I also regretfully recommend that anyone from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds do not join the MPS until there is more rigorous accountability placed on the Commissioner and more resources are given to the Met BPA so they can provide wrap-around support to those in need.”

 

The APA fully supports the NBPA's demands for an immediate end to the racially motivated investigation against the Met BPA Chair. We call for genuine, transparent reform within the MPS to eliminate systemic racism and restore trust in the communities they are meant to serve. As we approach critical election milestones, the APA, alongside our partners, will intensify our efforts in demanding a policing system that is fair, just, and accountable to all Londoners.

 

End of Release

 

About the Alliance for Police Accountability (APA): The APA is a coalition of activists, community leaders, and justice advocates dedicated to systemic reform within the policing system. Our mission is to ensure fairness, justice, and accountability, promoting a policing culture that respects and protects the rights of all communities, particularly those historically marginalized and oppressed by systemic racism and discrimination.

Alliance for Police Accountability (APA) Press Release. Black Londoners Issue Open Invite to New Met Police Chief Shortlisted Candidates.

Press Release… Press Release… Press Release… Press Release.

                                             Immediate Release Sat 11th June 2022 

London's Black Communities Issue Open Invite to Shortlisted Met Police Chief Candidates. 

The Alliance for Police Accountability (APA), a UK national African and Caribbean heritage organisation formed in response to the murder of George Floyd, has extended an open invitation to the two shortlisted candidates for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to meet London's Black Communities. 

The APA is holding its second London Black communities' consultation event, Met Commissioner: What do London's Black Communities Want? on Thursday June 16th at 6.30 pm at the IDPAD Empowerment Centre, 18-24 Lower Clapton Road, London E5 0PD

The APA conducted a consultation on this question among its members in February 2022, followed by a very successful public event held in Brixton on March 2nd 2022, with 4,000 people either attending or taking part online. 

You can watch our first APA consultation event held in Brixton here and book your in-person place for this second event in Hackney here. 

The Home Secretary, Boris Johnson and Mayor for London Sadiq Khan will interview the two shortlisted Met internal candidates on June 20th, 2022. Current Met Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave and Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley are the shortlisted candidates.

In April, the APA wrote to the Home Secretary requesting that London Black communities be informally involved in the recruitment and interview process through the London Mayors' Office. That request was acknowledged but essentially ignored by the Home Secretary.

In March, the Brixton consultation expressed the unanimous view that any new Commissioner must accept the reality of police institutional racism. This was seen as essential if he was to repair the deep, inter-generational damage to Black public confidence in the Met, currently at an all-time low.

Public confidence figures clearly show that the Met does not police London's Black communities with consent. 

Any new Commissioner will need to secure the support of London's Black communities if we are to avoid a severe further deterioration of what are already profoundly strained relations. 

 Lee Jasper, former Director of Policing in London (2000-2008) and Chair of the APA, said, 

"It's important that these candidates meet and hear from London's Black communities. Given the level of public distrust of the majority of Londoners, a majority of which are Black and Asian communities, Women and Lesbian and Gay communities. So, we've extended a genuine invitation to both candidates to attend this meeting. 

We believe post-George Floyd, there needs to be a paradigm shift away from the toxic past practices, and there needs to be much deeper community engagement with this process. In some US states, this is an elected, not selected, position. 

Though the government has ignored our demands, we believe that these candidates need to demonstrate that they hear, understand, and fully appreciate the depth of London's black communities' anger and concerns.  

Therefore, both candidates are invited to come and have an informal chat, engage, and hear directly from London's Black communities themselves. Attendance would demonstrate that the candidates understand the importance of establishing a significant break with the past while respecting London Black communities. 

Whatever the Home Secretary's views on institutional racism in the Met, the new Commissioner, if they are to be successful, will need to sufficiently demonstrate the independence of mind, thought, and action necessary to win back a lost community to the police. They will need to be brave, very brave. “

All APA panellists are available for interview call 07984 181979 to arrange. 

Editor’s note. 

The Alliance of Police Accountability (APA) is a new and powerful network of Black organisations responsible for delivering a two-year national policing consultation exercise with African Caribbean heritage communities in England and Wales. 

The APA will revisit, critically address, and reinforce the founding principles of policing as established by Sir Robert Peel and the core principle of policing with consent. 

The Project recognises both the historical and contemporary growing tensions between English and Welsh black communities and the police following the death of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

The Project will address two broad but essential questions. 

• What do black want from policing, and what do we see as the core community policing values that address institutional racism and the lived experience of black communities? 

• From a Public Health objective, what are our primary responsibilities in seeking to reduce serious violence in our communities? 

We aim to explore the black experience of policing, co-produce a Black community policing public health framework, and develop an action plan that addresses these two critical issues. 

The APA Project was developed by the Black Men 4 Change network and is chaired by Lee Jasper of Blaksox, who conceived the Project.