“The law is annoyingly complicated,” said Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley yesterday.
Is it? Really? Sir Mark had been struggling to explain why police officers have been unable to deal more swiftly with disruptors from Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion and, most recently, Animal Rebellion.
I’m even more keen for him to address the disparity in response to middle class protesters left alone to trash supermarkets, destroy supplies and sit in roads bringing the country to a standstill – and young Black men stopped, handcuffed and searched on the basis (checks notes) of what they are wearing.
Don’t believe me? Check the viral footage on social media of the young man in Croydon, south London, stopped, searched and detained as he wasn’t ‘dressed for the climate’.
Nothing was found but he was stopped again just two days later. A complaint was made by the young man and is being investigated.
We are also still waiting for accountability over the distressing case of Child Q, the 15-year-old schoolgirl who, two years ago, was strip-searched by police at school while on her period without another adult present. Again, nothing was found.
We are starting to sound more like the troubled US every day.
Black people are still nine times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than white people, official figures for England and Wales in 2019-2020 show.
But then when Baroness Casey’s new report into misconduct in the Met reveals a culture of racism and misogyny, is there any surprise that officers are abusing their position?
The report basically showed that officers were getting away with breaking the law.
Black officers were 81% more likely than their white counterparts to face misconduct allegations. Asians were 55% more likely.
Sir Mark – who was appointed last month – has admitted the report showed “patterns of unacceptable discrimination that clearly amount to systemic bias” towards Black and Asian officers and staff.
And that’s before you even get to the many claims of sexual misconduct, misogyny, racism and homophobia that the report found were badly mishandled.
It is heartbreaking to accept that sections of the very people tasked with protecting us are making judgments on how to do so based on our skin colour.
Now that we’ve established the scale of the problem we need answers as to how Sir Mark will address it. Fast.
