Racism warnings 'fell on deaf ears'

Warnings of racism at Scotland Yard have fallen on "deaf ears" for more than a decade, a top policeman said as eight officers were suspended from the force.

Superintendent Leroy Logan, of the Black Police Association, said he was "disappointed" by the Met's apparent failure to take effective action following years of feedback from black communities.

He spoke after 10 complaints - relating to 20 officers and one member of police staff - were referred to the police watchdog. The referrals came just days after Scotland Yard vowed to get to the bottom of "very damaging" footage of one officer apparently racially abusing a man and another allegedly assaulting a teenage boy last summer.

Supt Logan, a founder member and former chairman of both the London and National Black Police Association (NBPA), said while race relations had improved since a 1999 report accused the force ofinstitutional racism, there had been a recent deterioration in attitudes.

Warnings over racism in the Met have '
fallen on deaf ears', according to a black police chief

Citing a need to "root out the bad boy cops," he said race relations had dropped down the agenda. But he said the issue had been raised yearly by youths on the NBPA's community engagement programme.

"Every year since 2001, the young people have been saying how they believe they are being dealt with disrespectfully, not shown enough dignity, casual racist comments were being used," he said.

The officer, who has more than 30 years of practical policing experience, added: "You would think these casual racist comments would be long gone and here we are and they are still coming up." And he said the force now needed to "get its act together", adding: "The police service isn't in a good place."

In total, eight officers and one member of staff at the Yard have been suspended. Pc Alex MacFarlane has been temporarily stripped of his duties after a recording was made of a suspect being called a "n*****". The arrested man, named as Mauro Demetrio, 21, from Beckton, east London, was arrested on suspicion of drug driving but no action was later taken. He recorded the abuse on his mobile phone.

It emerged that another officer, reportedly with Pc MacFarlane when Mr Demetrio was abused, was also placed on restricted duties after allegedly being seen kicking a 15-year-old black boy to the ground and kneeing him. Met Deputy Commissioner Craig Mackey has warned there could be further referrals to the watchdog.

Elsewhere, four police officers have been temporarily stripped of their duties in Northern Ireland following the discovery of racist and sectarian text messages.

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