The Metropolitan Police will start recording the ethnicity of the drivers that they stop.

It comes amid continuing concerns around racism in the police and particularly around vehicle stops of black drivers in the UK. 

The Met’s Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said that she hopes the pilot scheme can improve trust in the force and scrutiny. 

She told LBC: ‘During the summer, (there were) huge amounts of concerns about racism in society and about the trust that members of our black communities in particular have in their public services and their police in particular. And one of the issues that was raised with us was that people felt there was a huge amount of transparency and scrutiny about things like stop and search and arrest and other things but (not for) stopping a vehicle.’

‘There is a view from many members of the public that there should be more scrutiny of that area.’ 

The intervention follows a series of high profile incidents which saw the force criticised amid the Black Lives Matter movement, including a car stop of British athlete Bianca Williams, who was handcuffed along with her boyfriend, while their young son watched on in the back. 

Five police officers were investigated following the incident and the Met later apologised to the sprinter. 

Labour MP Dawn Butler also slammed the force over a separate incident the following month, when her black friend was stopped while she was a passenger in the car. 

The former equalities minister claimed there was ‘no other reason’ why they were stopped than ‘the colour of our skin’. 

Now the Met say they are working to increase public trust and confidence with the initiative, launched on Monday, which will see roads policing officers record the ethnicity of those they stop. 

It comes after pressure from Mayor Sadiq Khan for the Met to deal with its race-related issues and restore trust. 

The force was previously branded ‘institutionally racist’ in the high profile Macpherson Report of 1999.

Last year Mr Khan outlined a new ‘Trust and Confidence Commission’ to restore trust in major institutions like the emergency services, in an exclusive interview with Metro.co.uk.

Branding the police initiative a ‘fairly small scale’ and time limited pilot, Dame Cressida continued: ‘Transparency is very important, scrutiny is very important but it has got to lead to something. 

‘There has got to be action that is going to come from it, but more to the point it has got to be practical.’

Officers across London will also record the location and time of the vehicle stop, sex and age of the driver, and the make and model of the vehicle. 

All policing duties will be carried out first, and the data will be recorded at the end of the stop, according to the force. 

Met Operations Commander Kyle Gordon explained: ‘It is right and proper that we are transparent and accountable in the use of our powers and this pilot will help us assess our proportionality in relation to vehicle stops. 

‘This is part of the steps we are taking to increase even further public trust and confidence in the Met – particularly among London’s black communities.’

He continued: ‘Officers will explain to the people stopped that we are asking for the information to help us understand our impact on London’s travelling public and to increase confidence.

‘We want all communities to have the same level of trust in us and for us to be the most trusted police service in the world.’

The scheme is due to run for six months, before officials review a report due in the summer and decide whether to continue with the initiative. 

Mayor Mr Khan welcomed the pilot and said he had written to the Home Secretary asking for it to become compulsory for police to collect the data.

He said: ‘We’ve listened and responded to the continued frustrations of Black Londoners, who are concerned that they are six times more likely to be stopped in a car than a white person, and this pilot will help us to begin to assess and address concerns about racial profiling and disproportionality in our city.

‘Road Traffic Stops are an important tool the police have to keep Londoners safe but they can have a huge impact on community relations and deserve the same level of scrutiny as any other kind of police stop-and-search power.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Source: Read Full Article