Camden police figures higher than under-fire London average

BLACK people are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched by police in Camden than white or Asian residents, official statistics obtained by the New Journal show.
That figure is far worse than the London-wide average – where black people are four times more likely to be stopped – which was condemned in an official report by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) earlier this year.
Of the more than 5,000 people stopped and searched in the borough so far this year, nearly 40 per cent were black, even though those of African and Caribbean descent make up little more than eight per cent of Camden’s population.
Just over half those stopped were white, a group that accounts for nearly three-quarters of the borough population.
Asian residents are about as likely as white people to be stopped, accounting for seven per cent of all searches and just over 10 per cent of the overall population.
But Borough Commander Mark Heath said it was unfair to compare stop-and-search figures with the census, because many of those stopped lived outside the borough. He insisted stop-and-search was intelligence-led.
And he added: “There are Home Office studies that have discredited this kind of comparison.
“For example, if we stop the same black person four times in one day, that would be counted four times.”
In May the MPA recommended that Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens publicly acknowledge that “if racial bias exists in the use of stop-and-search powers, he gives a commitment that the practice will be eliminated”.
One mother whose son has been stopped and searched four times since March believes much more still needs to be done.
Hazel McKinlay thinks her son, JC, 17, is the human face of “racial profiling”.
She says he is a “model student” who got eight good GCSEs this summer but is being singled out for police attention because he is black and fits the “cap and hood stereotype”.
Ms McKinlay complained to police in March when JC was first stopped and searched in Fortess Road, Kentish Town, after being accused of looking into parked cars. He has since been searched twice on or around Hampstead Heath.
Late last month he was incorrectly issued with an £80 spot fine after allegedly threatening an officer who searched him in Fleet Road, Hampstead.
He said: “There had been a fight at a party and so everyone was leaving.
“Even though I had nothing to do with it I was singled out.
“The officer grabbed me and provoked me. I did swear but I did not threaten him.”
The cash penalty was dropped after officers realised that, at 17, JC was too young to be issued with a fine.
Following a law change in November 1, police are now able to fine those aged 16 and above.
A police source said JC would have been cautioned or charged if the officer handling his case had dealt with him correctly under the old rules.
But Ms McKinlay said: “If my son had ever done anything illegal I would not complain, but, just because he is black and his friends are black, he is stopped.
“My younger son, who is 15, has mostly white friends and he is never stopped.”
A police spokesman said: “Police believed that section five of the Public Order Act was breached and it was felt the appropriate course of action towards the individual was to issue a fixed penalty notice.
“It has become apparent that, due to an error, this notice is incorrect and on this occasion, the fine does not have to be paid.”
Commenting on stop-and-search in general, he added: “All stops are carried out in response to intelligence received and are appropriate to that intelligence.”