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Police racism complaint is upheld
Officer discriminated against Eritrean man after using stop-and-search powers in Soho
A PROBE into racial discrimination by Charing Cross police officers has upheld an appeal from an Eritrean national.
The Independent Pol-ice Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigated charges of discriminatory use of the stop-and-search powers after a 31-year-old man was arrested and detained in July 2005.
He was stopped and searched in Soho under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and quizzed about his immigration status.
He was arrested and detained in custody at Charing Cross Road after officers felt “unsatisfied” with his responses but released the next day without charge after his immigration status had been confirmed.
The man complained of wrongful detention, false imprisonment and race discrimination.
The complaint was dismissed by Met investigators – but this week upheld by the IPCC.
Its commissioner John Crawley said stop and detention under the Terrorism Act should be used for terrorism enquiries only and that detention was unlawful.
He said: “In our view the officer did not have the lawful right or power to detain the man following the terrorism check in order to ask questions regarding his residency status under this stop.
“He had no reasonable grounds to suspect the person’s immigration status – rather the opposite, in fact, as the complainant produced a valid driving licence and other identity material.
“It is at this point that the officer’s actions, regarding detention and arrest, became in our view unlawful. The constable claimed to find the man’s response to questions unsatisfactory and evasive but this cannot provide a retrospective reasonable suspicion to detain to ask questions that the man was under no obligation to answer in the first place.”
The commissioner concluded that the officer began his immigration questioning be-cause of his race and ethnic origin alone – finding the action amounted to discriminatory behaviour.
The officer has been ordered to take training on diversity issues and police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and Immigration Act 1971. |
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