Basu: Stand up to racism

BRITAIN’S most senior Asian officer has said the police “must be better” at listening to communities they serve, writes Jessie Mathewson.

The Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Neil Basu – who is of Indian and white British heritage – said George Floyd’s death will “forever be a totemic image of racial injustice in America”.

He added that US and UK policing cannot be directly compared, but acknowledged the “legitimate anger” protesters feel at “the racial bias built into the very fabric of our institutions and society”.

Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people are over-represented in British prisons – making up 26 per cent of prisoners, but just 14 per cent of the population, according to the Prison Reform Trust and Census data.

Black Londoners were also more than twice as likely to be fined for Covid-19 lockdown breaches, according to Met Police figures.

“This disparity is seen in education, in health, in the workplace – it’s every where – and it’s a daily lived experience for many,” Basu said.

But he claimed the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, and the subsequent inquiry by Sir William Macpherson into the Met Police’s handling of the case – which branded the force “institutionally racist” – was a turning point for UK policing, he admitted.

In a personal message, he spoke of a “particularly shattering week” for BAME police officers in Britain.

Recent demonstrations about Floyd’s death were largely peaceful. However in London, 35 police officers were injured in clashes with protesters, and a number of statues were vandalised.

Basu said protests attracted a “tiny minority” of “criminal opportunists”– but the majority of people were highlighting legitimate concerns.

He thanked police who showed “restraint, dignity and empathy” and “walked the thin blue line with grace”. But officers must continue to do better and acknowledge the fears of all communities they serve, he said.

“Taking a knee was and is a powerful symbol of challenge and hope, and I was moved to see some of our officers do so,” he added. “But I see this as a time to stand up – stand up to racists, inequality and injustice.” (Local Democracy Reporting Service)