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Treated like a terrorist
• THIS week, an Asian resident– a smart, professional man – told me how he had been stopped and searched by police during his commute on the Underground.
He told me how he felt he was being treated as a potential terrorist, even though he has lived here for 20 years. He said the attitude of the police was beginning to make him feel unwelcome in this country.
As a former executive councillor for community safety, I have worked well with individual police officers and Islington’s Safer Neighbourhoods teams. But legislation constantly undermines the good work our police do to help community cohesion.
The problem is that terrorism legislation gives police the power to search people without even having to give a justification or have a reasonable suspicion that they are a potential security threat.
It is the apparent arbitrariness of the searches that makes people feel as if police are abusing their power. This weighs particularly heavily on people in the Asian community, who may come to the conclusion that police don’t know the difference between a potential Al Qaeda terrorist and a law-abiding citizen of Asian heritage.
Cllr MARISHA RAY
Lib Dem, Clerkenwell
• THE Lib Dem parliamentary candidate somehow manages to take credit for Labour’s Safer Neighbourhoods teams and then makes an empty statement about more police “accountability” (Policing, May 1).
Lib Dems have opposed most of Labour’s action on crime and have been the most vociferous in their opposition to robust measures that will make communities safer.
If Bridget Fox and her supporters who run the council want to have a positive engagement with police they should take a bit more interest in the Safer Islington Partnership.
While Labour has increased police and police community support officer numbers and seen crime go down, what have the Lib Dems been doing? Promoting the right of prisoners to get the vote.
GARY POOLE
Secretary, Islington South and Finsbury Constituency Labour Party
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