Humza: I’ve been stopped by police a dozen times
JUSTICE Secretary Humza Yousaf yesterday said he had been stopped and searched by police more than a dozen times – sometimes as ‘the only brown face in a group of white people’.
The minister said he was frequently stopped as a teenager despite never committing a crime.
Mr Yousaf, who was born in Glasgow to a Kenyan mother and Pakistani father, admitted he has been a victim of racial abuse and profiling.
At a fringe event at the conference, the issue of stop and search was raised by an audience member who asked whether it was effective at preventing crime.
Mr Yousaf said it was – but that there must be appropriate checks and balances.
He added: ‘I’ve been stopped and searched over a dozen times. Sometimes at the airport, but when I was younger in the street or in my car or a friend’s car, sometimes at railway stations as well.
‘I was never committing a crime, I had never committed a crime. Sometimes I was the only brown face in a group of white people, and I’d be the one – especially at airports – who was told to stand to the side and be questioned. It just wasn’t great for my trust in the police.’
Last year, while serving as transport minister, Mr Yousaf was fined £300 and given six penalty points for driving without insurance.
He also told the audience he is to consider handing Tasers to all police officers after hearing they are ‘more humane’ than batons.
Police bosses told him yesterday the threat of being Tasered was often enough to stop criminals becoming violent or lashing out – and argued that the devices should be used more widely.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) claimed most rank-andfile officers are armed with just a baton, which are used to ‘bludgeon someone into submission’.
They said issuing Tasers could prevent violent altercations between officers and suspects and would be a ‘more humane’ way to deal with people.
Around 500 trained officers in Police Scotland have Tasers following a roll-out in June. However, the SPF wants all 17,000 officers to be given them, saying they offer better protection.
Mr Yousaf said he had heard the ‘red dot’ of a Taser was often an effective deterrent and said he would consider and continue parliamentary conversations on handing them to all officers.
SPF general secretary Calum Steele said: ‘The reality is that we don’t know what we are going to come across from one day to the next, and the alternative to a Taser is to bludgeon someone using a metal rod.’
Mr Steele warned officers have little to protect themselves or members of the public if suspects become violent.
He said: ‘When it comes to the continued or escalation of force that police officers can use, a Taser falls below the use of a baton, that’s the reality of it. We currently have what we are physically born with, our hands and our feet, hopefully that works more often than not.
‘Then we have incapacitant sprays, then Taser, then we have a big metal rod to beat them into submission. What is more humane? Is it more humane to put a dot on someone and say behave or you’ll be sore? Or is it more humane to beat them until they stop fighting?
‘If you give someone three feet of metal, to batter someone until they stop fighting with you, that’s more inhumane than any officer carrying a Taser.’
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘Giving Tasers to every police officer would be a significant extension of equipment and merits full consideration.
‘Police officers should be given every effective resource to keep themselves safe and to deal with violent or unpredictable offenders, subject to appropriate checks and balances.’
‘Wasn’t great for my trust in police’