The case of Shana Grice, the 19-year-old stalking victim who was fined by Sussex Police for wasting their time before being murdered by her ex-boyfriend, makes for disturbing reading. As a man, I do not know what it is like to be hounded relentlessly as a woman. But as a black gay man, and as a former detective,…
In the London Borough of Islington where I live – one of the capital’s richest and poorest places – another young life has been lost to violence on Britain’s streets. Knife crime is now a widespread social problem, with an 8 per cent increase reported across England and Wales within the past decade, and a 50 per cent increase in London in just…
By now, more than 60,000 people have watched a video showing Ohio police officer Peter Casuccio lecturing two young black boys about gun safety. He had stopped them due to a police report that one of the boys was in possession of a gun, but the officer discovered the 11-year old boy was carrying a BB gun.…
The news that the government could extend stop and search powers to allow police officers to search for acid, drones and laser pointers has been welcomed by many. I’m mindful of the changes to the “reasonable grounds” needed to stop and search individuals. Stop and search and its disproportionate use on black, Asian and minority ethnic Britons was a subject of contention during my decade-long policing…
Since his murder, I’ve not publicly commented on the passing of PC Keith Palmer for a lot of reasons – one being my own history with the Metropolitan Police. But today I want to make it clear: PC Palmer died a hero. He died as an exemplar of everything I advocate in a positive police force: officers doing their job…
Earlier this week, Jeremy Joseph, owner of the legendary LGBT nightclub G-A-Y, posted a comment on Facebook which surprised me for two reasons – the racial overtones of the remarks, and the numerous supportive comments from his followers that it garnered. Joseph’s outburst read to me like just another remark in a long history of…
On Saturday, the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell interrupted the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s speech about domestic violence against women on World Human Rights Day – which in itself was an ironic act. Corbyn was about to speak when the Syria Solidarity UK protesters, led by Tatchell, took to the stage to protest. Tatchell alleges that Corbyn hasn’t…
In 2001, when I joined the police, homophobia was rife. In the Greater Manchester force I heard the word “queer” often, mainly from sergeants about prisoners. And when I came out to my senior officer, he told me he couldn’t condone what I did “as a homosexual”. In a secret document my chief superintendent wrote…
Despite the guilty verdict this week, Louise Mensch is sticking by her remarks that Thomas Mair’s trial – which resulted in his life imprisonment for the murder of Jo Cox – was potentially prejudiced. Mensch of course has a right to free speech and to her opinion. And she has raised some very interesting questions about criminal trials…
In an exclusive today, The Independent has learned that the Government has made a U-turn on one of its most controversial school policies. Previously, pupils would be required to provide information about their place of birth. It was a policy that would have targeted children as young as two years old – and it is only in…
Eight years ago, Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. Today, Americans will choose their next President – a woman, or a so-called woman hater. America’s fate hangs in the balance, and during this stressful time, it would be pertinent to look back on Obama’s presidency. Since President Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination back in…
It is a good thing that Theresa May’s Conservative government is introducing an Alan Turing Law to pardon gay men convicted of historical victimless sexual crimes – that is what I wrote for The Independent last month. No one should be criminalised for being gay. At the start of the century, I was still policing these sex crimes…
Until recently, I didn’t even realise I was a Black Gay Man. Gay – yes, but Black – no. Ridiculous, it sounds. I lived in a world in which I thought I was accepted because of my mixed-race heritage, so I had no reason to consciously think about my blackness. I was just me. That…
In 2001, I stepped proudly through the doors of Greater Manchester Police and one of the first words I was called from a colleague was a “coconut” – you know, black on the outside/white on the inside. This was just before the BBC documentary The Secret Policeman aired highlighting racism in the service, I was at the…
In July 2010, I found out that The Sun newspaper had obtained my personal and sensitive information, and was going to publish this in an attempt to discredit me. This was because I had taken the not-easy decision to challenge my employer for behaviour in my job as a police detective I believed to be…
In the run-up to the referendum on changing the UK voting system this May, Prime Minister David Cameron gave a speech on multicultural Britain, claiming that the country has seriously been damaged by an influx of migrants, many who are from ethnic minority communities. This speech, together with my own experience of racial discrimination, got…