As Black Lives Matter protests are picking up all around the UK, here are some statistics of the disparate policing of BAME people
As Black Lives Matter protests are picking up all around the UK, here are some statistics of the disparate policing of BAME people:
5. Black people are more than eight times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police across the country
Those from BAME backgrounds are disproportionately targeted by the police’s increased ‘stop and search’ powers all around the country. In London, black people are more than nine times more likely to be targets of that tactic, despite committing no offences.
Police are accused of ‘stereotyping’ and ‘targeting’ BAME people through the powers granted to them under section 60 (s60) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. Overall, those from BAME backgrounds are four times more likely to be stopped under the controversial measure than white people.
4. The Metropolitan Police is four times as likely to use force against black people
Figures from the 2017-2018 period showed that Met officers were four times more likely to use force against black people than white people as a percentage of the population. Critics have accused the force of ‘profiling’ young black men in London.
A white Met police officer force was last month accused of racism after she handcuffed a black man understood to be an ambulance driver outside his London home. A search found no drugs on him and he was not arrested.
3. Black people in London were twice as likely to be fined for lockdown breaches
In the midst of an epidemic that disproportionately kills minorities, the Met has been twice as likely to fine black people for coronavirus breaches than white people. Black people, who are 12% of the capital’s population, also made up a third of the arrests for alleged lockdown rule breaches.
Asians in London were 26% more likely be to fined by police while white people 23% less likely.
2. BAME people are twice as likely to die after restraint was used
The Inquest charity’s figures on deaths in custody where restraint was a feature show that BAME people are more than twice more likely to die than other deaths in custody.
They are also more than twice as likely to die after the use of force, and nearly twice as many of the deaths in custody involved mental health issues.
1. Choke holds like the one that killed George Floyd are used by British police
While British police are not routinely armed, the use of neck restraints similar to the one recorded in the video of Mr Floyd’s death in the US is still officially sanctioned for use by officers. In the summer of 2017, four young black men in the capital died after being restrained by police. In one incident, witnesses reported the officer knelt on the man’s neck for ‘eight to ten minutes’ while bystanders pleaded with him to stop.
Sophia Dourou is a freelance journalist
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