The Metropolitan Police has set out plans to try to rebuild trust with London’s black communities which it says have been “let down” over a number of years. Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said “there remains a long way to go and there is a lot more work to do”, but added the Race Action Plan “was a step in the right direction”.
It includes a new stop and search charter, an overhaul of its policy on intimate searches on children and measures to help black victims of crime. The plans were made with input from black communities across London as well as black officers within the Met.
The new stop and search charter aims to reset how the procedure is carried out. Tensions over stop and search have included the treatment of two black athletes, Team GB runner Bianca Williams and her partner, Portuguese sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos.
Two Met constables were sacked in October 2023 after a disciplinary panel found their actions during a “highly distressing” stop and search amounted to gross misconduct.
Trust in the force was also damaged after a 15-year-old black girl – known as Child Q – was strip searched while on her period at her school in Hackney in 2020.
Source: BBC
In other news – King Charles remembers 80 years of sacrifice in Operation Market Garden
King Charles honored the 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden, a key military effort launched in 1944.
The message shared on the Royal Family’s official Instagram handle, emphasizes the enduring connections forged between Dutch people and their liberators during a pivotal moment in World War II. Read more
